The Internship
by RavensDescendant
Summary: In the summer before her last semester at Smith, Piper Chapman finds herself in NYC interning with a publishing company. What happens when what was supposed to be a simple summer job gets flipped upside down by a certain dark haired editor? AU. Vauseman. Rating may change.
1. Door Stops & Favors

**The Internship**

**Chapter 1: **

_Doorstops & Favors_

Piper awoke to the soft sound of her alarm around 6:30 AM. It was summer, it was Monday, and it was the first day of her new internship. After months of filling out applications and being called in for numerous interviews, the young blonde had finally landed a summer position at a publishing company in New York City.

The floor of her apartment creaked as she excitedly got ready for her first day 'on the job'. After getting cleaned up, she curled her shoulder length, blonde hair into loose waves and slipped into the clothes she had ironed the night before. After serious deliberation, she had decided on a simple black pencil skirt that ended right above her knees. She accompanied the skirt with a white button down blouse. Since the blouse was pretty thin, she had decided to cover the blouse with her black blazer. After finishing her makeup to what she had deemed "perfection", or "light, but noticeable" as her best friend Polly had told her would be best, she looked at the clock by her bedside.

"Fuck!" It was already 7:30 and she was going to be late if she didn't leave now. The young woman ran out her door, slipping on her heels and grabbing her clutch in the process. She bounced down the stairs of the apartment building as quickly as she could. _'What a way to start the day…'_

The walk to work was hurried, but uneventful. She had managed to snag a cup of tea from a shop on the way, which she was extremely thankful for since she had forgotten her mug at home. The office building she was looking for now engulfed her in its shadow as she stood outside. Glancing at her watch before entering, she smiled. _'10 'til, no problem'_

The ground floor of the building was packed with professional looking people. The majority of them were engrossed in their phones. Piper assumed they were looking at important emails and what not. She was so excited to finally get into actually doing work instead of writing college papers and taking exams. Piper glanced around the floor looking for the elevator. She had to stand on her toes to see over the bustling people.

"Ooof," a grunt escaped her lips as she felt the door behind her suddenly dig into her shoulder blade. She stumbled a bit before catching herself. A hand had just grasped her wrist, shocking her with static, as she had regained her balance.

"You should really be more careful about where you decide to stand," a raspy voice spoke from over Piper's left shoulder. The hand left her wrist as she turned to apologize.

"Sorry. Yeah, I…," Pipers breathing hitched as she took in the figure in front of her. "I- I was looking for the elevator." She finally forced out. A tall, fair skinned, dark haired woman stood before her. The woman's hair flowed down, framing her face in light waves and leading down to her hour glass frame. The woman wore a black leather jacket, dark skinny jeans, and strappy black heels.

"Earth to door stop," the hand that had been previously on Piper's wrist was now waving in front of her face. Piper had no idea she had been staring until now. _'Shit. Those eyes though…they have to be contacts.'_

Piper ran her hair through her hair, pushing it back and attempting to regain a little control over herself. She let her gaze follow some random person she saw walking through the window.

"Sorry, I saw someone I know… I think…" Piper gave the woman a slight smile, hoping to have covered up her staring and hiccup in normalcy. The smirk she had received in return squashed those hopes immediately.

"Uh huh. Well… elevator's that way," the woman pulled her thick framed glasses off of the top of her head, causing some of her hair to fall into her face, and used them to point toward Piper's right before slipping them onto the bridge of her nose. Her gaze never left Piper's.

"Oh, thank you!" Piper glanced toward the elevator and then to her watch. How long had she been standing there? It felt like an eternity. _'It's only been three minutes?! This watch has to be slow.' _Piper glanced back up to the woman to find that she was walking away from her. Their eyes locked one last time as the beauty glanced back at her over her shoulder. The eye contact made Piper jump and divert her eyes again as she scurried to the elevator. _'Well, that was... interesting...'_

* * *

Alex Vause, editor for the Big Apple Publishing Company, sat in her 18th floor office, gazing out of the window at the people squabbling on the ground below.

She often wondered how she had ended up in this position. All of her young life, she had assumed her life would be one big crazy adventure when she left home, but as it stood right now, her life was fairly boring.

Yeah, she went out with friends often, and yes, she lived in New York City, but she felt like something was missing still. The woman took a sip of her coffee as she heard her phone buzz.

**From: UNKNOWN**

**Left the key under the mat. Thanks for the night ;) Call me sometime.**

**Amy**

Alex chuckled a bit. _'So Amy was her name, huh?'_ She hadn't recalled much from the night before when she woke up this morning, but it wasn't like that was new to Alex. She responded to the text with a quick and polite thank you, mainly to keep the random person satisfied until she was able to retrieve her key. After all, she didn't want her place ransacked by some angry one-night stand she picked up at a bar.

She tossed her phone back on her desk and logged into her computer to check her emails before her attention was drawn by a knock on the door.

"Alex, have a sec?" her manager asked from the door frame.

"Sure, Ben. What's up?" She had a pretty good relationship with Ben. They were friends in the office prior to his promotion and they still went out together for drinks with some of the other editors after work.

"Well, I've got a favor to ask…" he stalled, walking into her office and standing near the other chair.

"Uh huh. Go on." She turned to him, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest and her legs crossed. Smirking, she knew he would owe her for whatever he was about to ask by the cautious behavior he was currently exhibiting.

"Okay, look, I know you hate interns. But, Destiny isn't in this week and I completely forgot she had scheduled vacation when I assigned this girl to her for the summer. Could you fill in for the week? You'd only have to show her the ropes." Ben spoke quickly, obviously hoping she'd say yes on accident with no strings attached. Alex was all for no strings attached in most of her life's aspects, but not when it came to favors for friends at work. Especially friends who had more authority than she had.

She shook her head and laughed, playing Ben.

"Looks like you really fucked up this time, Chief. Don't expect me to bail you out of your screw ups every single time," Alex turned back to her computer. _'3…2…' _

"Come on, Al! I'll buy drinks next time we all go out. Please?" Alex scrunched her face in a way that said "is that all you've got?" Ben huffed.

"Fuck," he whispered to himself. Alex chuckled. "Fine," Ben started after a pause, "I'll add another two days off, paid, to your calendar for this quarter."

Score. Alex always won.

"So, who's the victim?" she turned back to Ben who would've kissed her had he not known that the fierce woman would slug him for it. Playfully, of course, but she had an arm on her.

"You're a fucking life saver, Vause," he breathed a sigh of relief. Alex was smirking and couldn't help herself at this point. She loved when she got her way, but she loved it even more when the losing party knew that they had been duped.

"Did you really think I wouldn't help you out, chief?" She laughed while Ben just shook his head in disbelief.

"You're evil, Vause. There's something really twisted up there," he stated as he tapped his temple and left her office, laughing.

Alex nodded in agreement, still humored by Ben and his lack of organization, as well as his inability to read Alex. But, really, who could? Besides maybe her best friend, Nicki. And that was only on occasion.

The editor's phone chimed, alerting her of a new email. Ben had forwarded the Intern-Manager meeting calendar invitation. She looked at the scheduled time: 10 AM. She still had another hour. Before diving into her work, Alex opted for finishing her coffee and taking in all that was NYC through her window. The streets were less crowded now that people were finally getting settled into their daily routines. With that thought, her mind drifted to the blonde that she had hit with the door this morning.

'_Who was she?'_

* * *

_A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter in my first OITNB fanfic. I'm currently in withdrawals after finishing the second season much too quickly. Thankfully, this idea popped into my head and nagged me until I started writing it down. I will try to update every few nights until it is completed (probably two chapters at a time), so stay tuned if you enjoy it so far. As always, please review. _


	2. Introductions & a Game of Chess

**The Internship**

**Chapter 2: **

_Introductions & a Game of Chess_

Piper's hand scribbled across a page in her notebook wildly. She had been taking notes all morning; granted it was only 9:30, but it felt like midday. Her day was booked with orientation meetings and tours of the office, and she was loving every second of it. The business drive was like electricity shocking her every few seconds. The young woman looked at her wrist, '_speaking of electricity'_.

"Okay," the man who had been showing her around the office leaned his back against a cubicle wall. "Any questions so far, Chapman?"

Piper almost didn't realize she was being addressed. She wasn't use to being referred to by her last name. Not to mention her mind was taking a temporary vacation at the moment.

"Um, managerial meetings on Thursdays," she recited, nodding her head and using her pencil like a pointer in the air as she rattled off some of the key points of the morning. "Time is manager's discretion. IT will get my computer set up in a cube tomorrow. Bathrooms are down the back hall to the left, kitchen on the right," she smiled, pleased with herself. "I think I've got it."

Jerry, the man leading her around nodded, not really recognizing the woman for what she had believed was an accomplishment.

"Good," he started as he motioned for her to follow him once again. "So, do you know who your manager is? Or what department you're in?" Piper held her notebook to her chest as she fell in step behind the man.

"Editing. My manager is Destiny Leavell," Piper had memorized every inch of the paper work that B.A.P. had emailed her over the last few weeks.

"Destiny, huh?" She's a sweetheart. Not all that bright," he shrugged, continuing to walk without looking at Piper, "I think she took her kids on vacation this week. You may have a temporary manager until she returns." The young woman stopped walking.

"I actually do have a question, Mr. Jackson," her escort turned to her and gave a slight nod, signaling for her to continue, "who runs the editing department?"

"Well, Ben, the man that probably did your interview," Piper nodded. She remembered Ben. "Yeah, he's the head of the editing department. You want anything done on a higher level, he's who you have to talk to," Jerry stalled, smiling a bit and laughed before lowering his voice. "He's a bit spacy and unreliable, almost always. Word to the wise, if you really want something to get done, you go to Daniels or Vause," he paused again. Piper noted the thought in what he was saying. "Actually, just stick with Daniels. Vause has more pull, but shes...well..." Jerry smirked and ended his statement there, slipping into a room to their left.

"Alright, Ben, here's the newbie," Jerry spoke as Piper followed him into the conference room. The young woman was still trying to figure out what Jerry had meant when he was talking about this Vause woman. _'Note to self, watch out for Vause.'_

"She's a bright one," Jerry's voice pulled Piper from her thoughts and back to the present, "See ya 'round, Chapman." He gave her a smile and a nod as he exited the room; she returned the same.

"Thanks, Mr. Jackson," Piper took a seat across from Ben in the conference room. It was a simple oval shaped room, large table in the center that seated about 10 people. The blonde leaned back in her chair, enjoying the comfortable seat after being on her feet since this morning.

"Overwhelmed yet?" Ben gave her a polite smile and she shook her head in response.

"I got a little... turned around this morning," she admitted as the dark-haired woman from the building's entrance popped back into her thoughts momentarily. She continued, "but, that's been the worst of it so far."

Ben nodded, still smiling politely as he glanced at his watch, looking somewhat nervous. "Well, I have to admit," the man tapped his fingers on the table, "I dropped the ball on this weeks scheduling. Your assigned manager, Destiny, is out of the office for the week. Thankfully, I think I found you a temporary replacement for this week, Ms. – Ah," Ben's eyes shifted from Piper to the doorway.

"Your ears must have been ringing, Alex, I was just talking about you," Ben spoke. Piper stood up and straightened her skirt before turning to extend her hand to her temporary manager. "Piper, this is –,"

"Alex," the raspy voice caused Piper's body to numb, "Alex Vause."

_'Shit.'_

Piper knew she had really shitty luck. Ever since the ladder incident on her 13th birthday, she'd believed that she was cursed with the worst luck in the known universe. However, never in a million years did she believe that the woman that smacked her with a door this morning while also driving her crazy in the process would be the woman she would be working for. She also couldn't believe that this same woman was named Alex Vause. Vause. The..., well she didn't really know what she was. She just knew that she was someone to watch out for.

_'Again, shit.'_

The young blonde felt a strange surge through her palm as her temporary manager shook her hand. It was almost as if someone had set her hand on fire and then made her squeeze an icicle. Thankfully, unlike this morning, Piper was able to control herself a bit better.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Piper,... Chapman," she finished as she retracted her hand, nervously grabbing her left arm across her body as the interaction ended. "I look forward to working with you."

Alex was still looking at the blonde; it put Piper on edge and at ease at the same time. Never had she felt something so strange.

"Ben, I overheard Daniels say he was looking for you," Alex finally turned her eyes away and Piper exhaled for the first time in about 45 seconds. "Something about signatures?"

"Fuck!" he exclaimed. Piper glanced between the two as Ben jumped up, clearly needing to go do something he had forgotten about. Alex's eyes met Piper's once again. The black headed woman rolled her eyes, her arms crossing over her chest. Piper couldn't help but try and hide her laugh.

"Go on, Chief. I got the intern," she motioned her head towards the door. "Remember, you owe me," a playful smile played on the woman's lips. Piper had to tear her eyes away; she looked over to her left, pretending to be checking out the room.

"Screw you, Al. Thank you. But, screw you," Ben spoke viciously, but his words were laced with easily detectable sarcasm. "It's extremely informal in editing, Piper. You'll get use to it," he pulled her attention back to the two before making his exit. And with that, it was just Piper and Alex. The tall mysterious woman turned on her heels and looked over her shoulder at Piper. Her blue-green eyes seemed to be holding some big secret in their depths. "C'mon, kid. Let's get you into some work."

* * *

_'No fucking shit.' _

Alex stood outside the room where she heard Ben conversing with a somewhat familiar voice. Only somewhat because she had only heard it once, but familiar because it had been replaying randomly in her head all morning. The editor shook her head in disbelief. It had to be a coincidence, but there was only one way to find out.

She entered the room, stopping at the doorway and leaned her shoulder into the frame. _'It is doorstop.'_

Alex was currently leading her newly appointed intern slash errand runner to her office. Piper hadn't spoken since they had been officially introduced.

"How long do you have left, Chapman?" Alex asked, trying to make the girl a little less uncomfortable.

"Sorry?" Piper's voice sounded a bit shaky. Alex just turned and gave the girl her best _"trust me, I'm Alex Vause" _look.

"In school. You're at Smith, right?" She clarified. Alex had briefly glanced at Piper's resume before leaving her office earlier. On paper, she seemed like an intelligent girl, but Alex was going to determine that for herself. Not many people impressed her intellectually. Granted, most of her deepest conversations were lost on the ears of drunken one-night stands.

"Oh, right," Piper responded, her voice seemingly returning to the same confident tone she had been speaking to Ben in, "One more semester and I'm done." Alex nodded in response as they reached her office. She opened the door, holding it open and motioning Piper into the room with her free hand while looking directly into the woman's eyes with a soft gaze.

"Th- thank you," the young blonde stuttered slightly as she entered. Alex struggled to keep her smirk to herself. Ben was right, she was evil. She enjoyed the effect she had on people; probably a little too much.

Closing the door behind her, Alex took her seat at her desk. Piper had already sat in the other chair and pulled out her notebook. Alex chuckled.

"What the fuck is that?" she asked the girl, testing the waters. She wanted to see how this girl reacted, needing to be reassured that she wasn't some stuck up rich girl with a stick up her ass. Piper's expression turned to confusion and Alex continued. "The notebook," Alex laughed, "this isn't a class, kid. You won't need that." Alex watched as the girl's eyebrows rose slightly. She expected for the girl to retort with some ignorant response. Pleading her case about how she needed to take notes on everything under the sun in order to keep up.

However, that didn't happen.

The blonde closed the notebook and dropped it on the floor, followed by her pencil and black clutch. It was Alex's turn to be a bit shocked as she noticed the intern was smiling.

"Okay, Mrs. …," Alex saw Piper glance at her left hand and then direct her gaze back to her, "Ms. Vause."

"Just Alex. I'm not that old," Alex attempted to regain her dominance over the conversation.

"Sorry," the blonde flashed Piper a smile. "Alex," she corrected as she crossed her legs, "teach me." Alex's eyes darkened and she smiled.

_'Oh, kid, you might want to watch what you wish for. I'll wreck you.'_

The black haired woman leaned back in her chair, tapping her fingernails on her desk. "I'm a little unprepared," she had no idea why she was admitting that as the words spilled from her mouth, "Ben just sprung the whole intern deal on me this morning. Although, I'm not complaining," Alex turned to her desk, seeing a nervous shift in the girl out of the corner of her eye.

"What part of publishing are you actually interested in, kid?"

"Editing, actually," Piper responded after a short pause. Alex simply nodded and looked to the stack of papers on her desk. They had been submitted for reviewing and Alex had already conquered the entire stack. However, she needed to teach, right? _'And learn how this girl's mind works.' _

Picking up the stack and moving them to a cleared off portion of her desk, Alex motioned for Piper to roll her chair beside her own.

"These are recent submissions to the company. I want you to read through them and critique them," the corner of Alex's lips curled into a slight smile, "I guess you'll need that notebook after all, kid. Write down what you think of each one," she stood placing her palm on the intern's shoulder. Vague instructions would be a good way to see how Piper handled work.

"I'll be back in an hour or so," she told the girl, "meetings and shit," Her finger tips slowly left the blondes shoulder as she turned for the door. "Oh, yeah," Alex reached back over Piper, grabbing a pen from her desk. She gently grabbed Piper's wrist with her free hand, writing her cell phone number on the woman's palm. "Text if you need anything. Don't call unless the building is on fire," she tossed the pen back onto her desk. "And if you leave, watch those doors. They're sneaky little bastards." Alex smirked as she left the now blushing intern.

_'Check, your move kid.'_

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading! I love reviews, so if you have an opinion, feel free to voice it. _


	3. Motorcycle Rides & Unwanted Guests

**The Internship**

**Chapter 3:**

_Motorcycle Rides & Unwanted Guests_

Piper Chapman found herself tapping her pencil on her notebook as she read through the final review submission. She glanced at her watch; it was already 3 PM.

Her manager, Alex, had been in and out of the office throughout the day. Piper had noticed that in every appearance the woman had made, she had looked a little more pissed off than the previous. Piper wondered why Alex wasn't the one in charge. It seemed to her that she was the one who kept the place from falling apart. The blonde just shrugged and decided that Ben must have worked here longer.

The intern had basically written a book today. Her thoughts on the reviews may have been a little more in depth than Alex was expecting, but she hadn't specified what she had really wanted, so Piper assumed it would be fine.

After jotting down her final thoughts on the last review, Piper leaned back in her chair, smiling. The final piece was a collection of poetry by a local writer. She had really enjoyed reading it; she always enjoyed reading poetry. The young woman let her head fall back over the edge of the chair as she ran her fingers through her hair. _'What to do now?'_

The ink on her palm caught her attention as she sat upright. Alex's number. _'I guess I could ask her if there's anything more I could do...'_

Piper retrieved her phone from her clutch that was still sitting across the room. She flicked her finger across the screen and thanked the empty air around her that she had remembered to silence the device prior to walking into the building this morning. She had a missed call from her mother and six text messages.

**From: Polly**

**Pipes! Have a fantastic first day! I want all the details tonight. Love you!**

Piper smiled at the text from her best friend. She made a mental note to call her when she left the office and tell her all about her day. _'I'll probably leave out the door incident.' _The woman's thoughts focused on those she had been consciously pushing to the back of her mind all morning. Piper was really confused by the entity that was Alex Vause. The woman completely caught her off guard from the moment that they had met; she reminded her of a character from a book; she would have to either be the dark heroine, or the evil antagonist. Piper couldn't quite decide which, yet. She was someone who was a master of the game of life and exuded confidence. She was someone that she couldn't quite shake from her mind, it seemed, no matter how hard she tried.

As Piper scrolled through her other missed messages, her smile instantly faded.

**From: Larry**

**Hiya Piper! Haven't heard from ya in a bit, so I just wanted to check in... Give me a call when you get a chance. (:**

Piper rolled her eyes. A call was definitely not going to happen.

**From: Larry**

**Oh, and I had a great time the other night. We should do it again soon. (:**

There were three other similar messages. Piper didn't even bother opening them before deleting them. Larry was a friend of Polly's boyfriend Pete and, for some reason, Polly thought it would be a great idea to set them up at a wedding reception. Piper had been really drunk at the time, and everything had just gotten worse from then on. She had tried to bury that night six feet deep in her mind, but it was really fucking hard to do when the damn corpse kept climbing out of the hole.

_'Polly, why in the hell did you ever think he was my type? God, my mom couldn't have picked worse...'_

The blonde shook her head before typing Alex's number into her contacts.

"How's it going, kid?" the raspy voice made her jump.

"Jesus, you scared me," Piper put her hand on her chest as she turned to face her manager, who now had an amused smile on her face.

"I can promise you, I'm not Jesus," Alex smirked and Piper couldn't help but roll her eyes and laugh softly. It was so strange to her how this woman was intimidating her and making her smile all at once.

"I was actually about to text you," she stopped speaking as Alex raised her eyebrow. Piper watched as the woman pushed her secretary glassed up onto the top of her head. "I, uh,"

_'Breathe, Piper. You are not this pathetic.'_

"I finished reading through the submissions," she started after clearing her throat, "I wrote everything in the notebook. Pages 4-23," she pointed toward the yellow sticky note on the front of the notebook that told Alex where her opinions on the pieces were at. The blonde sat back down in her chair at Alex's desk. "Is there anything else you want me to do today?"

Alex gave Piper a small smile, which made Piper want to look away. Instead she held the blue-green gaze and stood her ground. The small victory made her smile back.

"Not today, kid. You're a fast reader," Piper looked at her watch and then back to her manager. She still had an hour on the clock. Was she just supposed to sit around and scroll through facebook?

"You're done for the day. Don't worry about your hours; I'll log them as full time," Piper was confused. Not by what Alex had said about giving her full time hours, but by the fact that the woman knew what she was thinking. _'I didn't speak out loud, did I?'_

Alex walked over to the closet in the corner of the room and pulled out a familiar looking leather jacket. She slipped it on and pulled her hair up out of the collar before retrieving a motorcycle helmet from the closet as well. _'Is she leaving for the day, too?'_

"The office is going out for drinks," Alex spoke and Piper mentally cursed as she realized she was just that easy for Alex to read. "You know where Rips is?"

Piper shook her head. She didn't usually venture to bars that were further than walking distance from wherever she would be staying for the night. Her father always insisted that if it was late and she was more than a few miles away, she needed to take a cab. Piper thoroughly despised cabs.

"Wait, I'm invited?" Piper finally realized why she had been asked the question.

"Of course, kid," Alex's smirk caught her again. "I said the office, you do work here, right?"

Piper gave her a playful, 'go fuck yourself' look in response and then nodded. Alex chuckled and opened the closet once again and pulled another helmet out.

"C'mon, then," she placed the helmet in Piper's lap, not waiting for her to grab her stuff before turning off the office light.

_'Bitch,' _Piper thought as her lips curled into a smile.

* * *

Alex's only true love worked her way into her head as she weaved the street bike through the bustling traffic and dark back streets that encompassed the city. Her smile was hidden by her helmet, not that anyone would be able to make out the expression if she had been helmetless. She was a blur to the world right now, and it made her happy. Her finger tips rolled over the throttle of the bike as she was stilled by a three-way stop.

Control, the freedom to steer her life in whatever direction she desired. That was what Alex truly loved. She smirked and jerked the throttle with a flick of her wrist, quickly speeding through the stop.

Laughter was the next thing to be hidden by the roar of the motorcycle. She felt the hands of her passenger release the seat and cling to her waist as the motorcycle jerked forward.

She had to admit, she was surprised at Piper Chapman's willingness to ride with her to the bar. Then again, the girl really had no other choice.

Alex pulled the street bike into an alleyway that opened up into a parking lot in the back of Rips. After cutting the engine, she watched as Piper stood and removed her helmet.

"Damn, kid," Alex smirked as she removed her own helmet and shook her hair out. "Helmet hair does not become you."

Piper was running her fingers through her hair, ignoring Alex's comment. Though Alex saw the blue eyes cut at her quickly and pull away after she spoke.

_'No reaction?'_

The young dark-haired woman readjusted her glasses and then took a step towards Piper, closing the distance between them to only a few inches.

_'I'll get a reaction.'_

"Here," Alex's fingers brushed the side of Piper's cheek before pushing a strand of unruly blonde hair back into place. Her eyes softly dug their way into the blue ones that currently reminded her of the phrase 'caught like a deer in the headlights'.

_'There we go.'_

Alex smiled before turning on her heels and walking toward the back entrance to the bar. She heard Piper's footsteps behind her.

"How's it goin', Vause?" the bald bouncer yelled at her in a deep voice as she made her way across the parking lot. She shot him a smile.

"I can't really complain, cue ball," Alex didn't know the man's real name, despite the numerous times she ventured to Rips during a normal week.

"Good shit, glad to hear it," the man responded before turning his gaze onto Piper. "She got ID?"

Alex turned her head to see Piper looking at her and then opening her clutch to find her ID. Alex pushed the clutch down to her side and chuckled.

"She's new in the office," she explained to the bouncer without looking at him, "22, right?" she asked Piper who looked at her quizzically.

"How did you –,"

"Just a good guess," Alex shrugged with a smirk. _'And a lot of practice.' _Cue ball just laughed as he opened up the door for them.

"Well, nice to meet you, new girl. The Monday crew is at the normal table," he pointed toward the table and Alex motioned for Piper to walk in front of her.

"Thanks, big guy," She stopped just inside the doorway and nodded for Piper to go ahead onto the table. The young girl complied as Alex turned her attention back to the bouncer, lowering her voice. "Hey, is she here?"

"Haven't seen her, or Saturday," Cue ball looked out for Alex when it came to her drunken ventures. One night a few months back, she was trying to pick up a gorgeous brunette with a crazy sexy body while a girl that she had recently had a short fling with was at the bar. Cue ball had to break them apart after the girl flipped out. He threw the crazy chick out and bought Alex a drink. She didn't know exactly why he helped her out, but she still owed the man for that night. "Hey, why don't you try to find a nice girl to keep around for a while?" the man's voice oozed sarcasm as he chuckled. Alex just laughed and waved him off, walking into the bar.

Piper had already been conversing with Ben and the others as made her way through the early crowd. She took the empty seat beside Piper when she got to the table.

"Vause, how ya like the motherly roll of teaching an intern?" a dark haired, skinny boy sitting beside Ben asked after taking a drink of his beer. Alex rolled her eyes at Jerry after the word "motherly" fell onto her ears.

"Oh, this one?" She pointed to Piper with her thumb, "Hey, I'm not complaining," She smirked, cutting her eyes at the blonde momentarily. "I appreciate the errand girl for the week. My office is spotless," She joked as she heard the blonde laugh softly, clearly catching onto the sarcasm.

"Sorry if Vause is making you hate your life," it was Ben's turn to be funny, "She's a bit of a bully when it comes to, well...everything," Alex smirked and gave Ben the finger before signaling for the waitress.

"Alex has been great so far," Piper's voice took over her thoughts. She turned to look at her to find that Piper's eyes met hers instantly. "I mean at first she had me cleaning the floors in her office with a toothbrush, but she found me a mop, so it's all good now."

The dark haired woman was shaking her head and laughing with the rest of them as the waitress came over. "Can I get a Killians," she stated rather than asked before tapping Piper's hand, feeling her jump as she did so, "and..."

"a margarita," Piper finished, flashing the waitress a smile as she walked away.

"You're kidding," Alex was chuckling at the girl, who shook her head.

"I love tequila," Piper responded with a smile. Alex just shook her head.

"Vause!" Alex's head jerked toward the bar in the center of the room as she heard the familiar voice of her fuzzy headed friend. She smiled at her before excusing herself from the group and making her way to the bar.

"I figured your new toy would be following you around after last night," Nicky joked with Alex. She just chuckled and shook her head.

"I don't even remember if it was a decent night," she laughed as she took a seat and leaned against the bar, "so I guess she was boring." Nicky was cleaning a glass as she just shook her head at the woman. Alex and Nicky had been friends since they had just so happened to crash the same college party. They had danced and drank together all night until the party was busted. Alex got them out of the house through a bathroom window as the rest of the party goers were being written citations for underage drinking. They had been inseparable friends ever since.

"So who's blondy?" the woman asked Alex, nodding towards Piper.

"She's an intern for the summer. I'm standing in as her manager for the week," the waitress sat Alex's beer in front of her and she took a drink. Nicky was staring at her.

"What, Nichols?"

"Nothin', she's just cute, is all," Alex rolled her eyes. "Looks like she's straight, though," Nicky nodded toward the table where her co-workers were sitting. Alex spun around on her chair and noticed the curly headed, goofy looking guy with the big nose talking to Piper. He looked extremely intoxicated and she didn't look amused; actually, she looked pretty pissed off. Alex glanced at Nicky, getting a nod from her friend before taking another drink of her beer and walking over.

"Did you get my messages? I put my number in your phone after you fell asleep..." Alex heard the guy ask Piper. She stood by Piper, who was now standing behind her seat, and cleared her throat.

"Oh!" Piper exclaimed, looking happy that there was an interruption. "Larry, this is my manager, Alex. Alex, this is... Larry," Piper's hand was resting on Alex's upper arm; the interaction made her tense up. The boy looked at her and nodded a hello, clearly not interested in introductions.

"Piper, do you wanna get out of here?" Larry's question instantly angered Alex. _'What a fucking idiot.'_

He grabbed Piper's hand and suddenly Alex felt Piper jerk back, elbowing her in the process. Yeah, she was definitely pissed off. Piper shot her an apologetic look, to which Alex just shook her head in understanding.

"No, I don't. Larry, look –," Piper began, and Alex noticed she was forcing her voice to be calm. Alex turned back to the co-workers, trying to give Piper and the idiot some privacy in what sounded like a serious conversation. However, the dark haired woman's ears were still focused on the blonde's voice.

"It was nothing, Larry." Alex's eyebrows lifted a bit. She hadn't pegged Piper for a hit and run kind of girl. She shook her head; apparently, she was just off her game today.

"Sure it was, Pipes," Alex rolled her eyes before hearing the chair behind her shoot in abruptly. She turned to see that Larry had a tight grip on Piper's wrist. "Come on, we can go talk,"

"Hey," Alex stood up and had Larry's arm in a death grip before she had even realized what she was doing. "I believe she told you no."

Larry looked at Alex and then at Piper before she felt the release of the man's grip on Piper. She let go of him once he took a step back.

"Now, get the fuck out of here," she finished. Her eyes were daring him to try again. Larry opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but thought better of it and put his hands up in defeat. She stared him down until he backed away from them.

"You okay, kid?" Alex asked under her breath before they turned back to the others.

"Yeah," her voice was soft and no longer laced with annoyance, "thanks." Alex just nodded and sat back down with the group as Piper did the same. She drained her beer and signaled for another, mentally scolding herself in the process.

_'Rule number 1, no strings attached. Do not get involved. Fuck.'_

* * *

_A/N: First and foremost, thank you all so very much for the wonderful reviews! I'm thrilled that you all enjoy the story so much and shocked at the responses. I couldn't ask for better readers! I was going to wait to post this until chapter 4 was finished up, but its half way done and I can't wait any longer (Chapter 4 will be posted tomorrow night). I hope you all enjoy this one!_

_Again, thank you all so much for getting this far and I only hope I do not disappoint. Reviews are welcomed and greatly appreciated. _

_P.S. Alex and Piper don't get off easily in this story. It's only just beginning. Stay tuned. ;) _


	4. Stories & Competition

**The Internship**

**Chapter 4: **

_Stories & Competition_

Piper's alarm screeched in her ear. She groaned and rolled over, swearing she had just fallen asleep about ten minutes prior to the horrible wake up call. After a few minutes of mentally persuading herself to move, her long legs were hanging over the side of the bed. She squinted in the light coming in from the window.

Last night had definitely been an interesting one. Everyone from the publishing company had been exceptionally nice to her at the bar, even after the incident with Larry. Even Alex.

'_Shit, Alex.'_

Piper grabbed her phone and began typing up an apology to the dark haired editor who had stopped Larry from dragging her out of the bar. The man had to have been extremely wasted to act that way. The guy was crazy clingy, but he wasn't plain crazy. Not from what Piper had seen in the short amount of time she knew him, anyway.

The young blonde woman paused and ultimately just tossed her phone. She would see Alex in an hour or so. And today, she wasn't going to let her intimidate her so much. Or she was going to fight it a little better, at least.

'_Shit, work.'_

Piper rushed into the office a few minutes late, making a mental note to kick the trend before it became a habit. She exhaled and relaxed as she entered her manager's office. Or attempted to enter before she was stopped forcefully by another walking body.

"You've really got a knack for getting hit in doorways," Alex's hand had steadied the blonde, keeping her from falling. Piper glanced at her bicep where the pale hand was currently retreating back to the dark haired woman. She readjusted her glasses and Piper shook her head slightly as she rubbed her forehead.

"I am so sorry, Alex," she looked at her, having to tilt her head up slightly due to the closeness. "It's been a long morning already," Alex's chuckle coursed through the intern's body as forcefully as her alarm had this morning. Suddenly, she was reenergized and a smile found its way onto her lips.

"Don't worry about it, kid," Alex passed her, brushing against her arm as she did so. "I was just about to go grab some more coffee from the kitchen," Piper tossed her clutch into her chair and followed Alex out of the office, answering the woman's unspoken question.

As they walked toward the kitchen, Piper wished that she had written that text this morning. It was impossible to figure out how to bring up last night's incident, especially since nothing intelligible was firing off in her brain right now. Alex was pouring a cup of coffee before she finally tried to speak.

"Alex,"

"You want a cup?" Alex swirled the last bit of coffee in the pot around, "I made this earlier, but I could make more; or there's tea in the cabinets. Everything here is up for grabs," her smirk flashed in Piper's downward gaze, "well, as long as you don't get caught."

Piper giggled and pressed her lips together as she shook her head at Alex before going to scavenge for the tea. "No, thanks, tea sounds good –, wait," her brain had finally started to kick in. _'About damn time.'_

"You made a pot earlier and it's already gone? What time did you get here?" she was now leaning up against the counter tops watching Alex. The woman simply shrugged as she drank from her black mug.

"I love coffee," she raised her mug and laughed softly, wagging her eyebrow. Piper rolled her eyes, realizing she was making fun of her for her margarita last night, and went back to looking for tea.

"Green or black?" Piper's breathing came to a halt as the raspy voice crept into her ear from only an inch away. She glanced over her shoulder to see Alex standing right behind her.

"Green," she answered shortly, cursing herself for letting the woman get to her once again. Alex reached up into the cabinet next to the one Piper currently had open and pulled out a box of green tea bags.

"Thanks," Piper smiled as she took the bag and fiddled with it in her fingers for a moment. "Alex," blue-green eyes caught Pipers. They looked a little tired to Piper; maybe the woman really did live off coffee. "About last night-," she started before being cut off.

"Don't mention it, kid. That guy was driving me insane," Alex was looking down into her mug, her eyelids almost completely covering her eyes from Piper. She watched as a fair skinned finger tapped the lip of the coffee cup. "What the story with that prick, anyway? He obviously knew you well."

The blonde crossed her arms as she waited for the microwave to finish heating up the water for her tea.

"Fucking Polly," she started before realizing that Alex had no idea who she was talking about. Thinking about it for a second, she wondered if she should really tell her manager about Larry at all. Wasn't it kind of inappropriate? Then again, she felt like she could trust Alex, despite only meeting her yesterday. Also, if she didn't really care to hear about it then she wouldn't have asked.

"Long story short, I was drunk at a friend's wedding reception. My best friend, Polly, thought Larry and I would hit it off," exhaling she glanced up, seeing that Alex was listening intently, "we hooked up in a cab on the way to a motel. He hasn't really figured out the whole 'I'm just not that into you' vibe yet."

Alex was chuckling at Piper and after a moment of trying to fight it, Piper couldn't help but laugh along. Her life was constantly like this: she apparently only attracted clingy guys, girls with no intention to give a damn about her, and doors. It was kind of her own personal niche, as pathetic as that was.

The microwave chimed and Piper retrieved the cup, dipping her tea bag in her mug a couple of times before blowing on the tea lightly. She knew Alex was watching; she just felt it.

"Well, that's one of shining moments. I make my mother very proud," she stated sarcastically, smiling, "it's only fair that I hear one of yours now."

'_What the fuck am I doing? This is Alex Vause. VAUSE! And she's, well…'_

"Fair enough," Piper had expected Alex's raspy voice to be telling her to mind her own damn business at this point. Or at least laughing at her and walking away. Saying that she was shocked was an understatement. The intern hid her expression behind her mug as she took a sip of tea. Alex turned and leaned against the counter tops next to Piper before she started talking.

"My girl Nicky and I were at this bar in Queens. Sketchy, right?" her dark eyebrow raised slightly as she reminisced. "We were dancing and taking shots with these other chicks. Apparently, the shots weren't just fireball whiskey, or the drinks after the shots were laced, I haven't figured it out yet," a soft chuckle escaped the woman's lips and she turned her eyes toward Piper, who returned the look, "Anyway, I woke up on a bench in a subway station wearing some grey Motley Crue hoodie with a sombrero hanging off my neck. My pants were missing and I was using one of my boots as a pillow. The other one was covered in some shit that looked like whipped cream. I left those there." She looked at Piper with a strained, serious expression. Piper was sure that she looked priceless right now as she tried to act cool about the story. It was impossible.

"You're bull shitting me right?" her voice cracked a bit as she was still attempting to hold it together. Alex just lifted her eyebrow at her and took another drink from her mug. Their eyes locked over the top of the cup for a second that felt like an eternity before they both busted into hysterical laughter. Alex choked as she tried to keep herself from spitting her coffee across the kitchen, which made Piper double over and caused tears to form in the corners of her eyes.

"What's so funny, ladies?" Piper glanced up, wiping her eyes with her thumb. Alex was no longer laughing, instead she was glaring toward the man that had just entered.

'_Holy shit.'_

Piper's blue eyes fell on the tall, muscular frame of the man that had spoken. He pushed his fingers through his sandy blonde hair that looked like it either hadn't been brushed in weeks or like it had taken a lot of time for him to perfectly mess it up. His skin looked like he belonged on a beach, lifeguarding, rather than being in an office setting in New York.

"I don't believe we've met yet," his light blue eyes were stunning. His irises didn't have a normal pattern; instead, it looked as though they had rocks behind them. They sparkled.

'_Pick your jaw up off the floor, pathetic.'_

Piper realized that she was supposed to shake the man's hand now.

"I'm Piper," she finally managed to squeak out before tearing her eyes away from the man and shaking his hand.

"A pleasure, Piper," his teeth almost blinded her when he smiled. "Daniels, Matthew Daniels. Call me Matt."

"Nice to meet you, Matt," Her voice was quiet. She didn't really know what to do at this point besides drink her tea. Damn, this man is fine.

Daniels looked away from Piper and over to Alex, who Piper noticed was staring straight ahead at the wall rather than meeting Matt's eyes. She watched her curiously, wondering what caused the tension between the two.

"You didn't leave any coffee for the rest of us, Vause." Alex glared at the man. Her look took Piper by surprise. It seemed like she was about to grab the man by his throat and throw him across the room.

"If you weren't so late getting in, maybe there would be some left for you, Daniels. Otherwise, feel free to make your own fucking coffee like the rest of us, if you think you can handle that little task," Alex flashed a 'fuck you' smile before turning her eyes toward Piper. She looked at the woman confused, but was only given a head shake by her manager before she turned to walk out.

Piper started to follow before the man spoke.

"Piper," Matt's voice made her turn her head, "Overheard that IT is at your cube right now getting it set up for you. I could show you where it is, if you'd like?" Matt wasn't looking at Piper as he spoke. He was looking past her at Alex. The intern glanced between her manager and Daniels, unsure of what to do. Alex rolled her eyes and walked out before she had a chance to decide what to do.

'_Shit.' _ She thought as Matt was leading her out of the kitchen.

* * *

Alex's now empty coffee mug hit her desk with a bang. Her lips were pressed tightly together as she pushed her glasses up into her hair and crossed her arms, standing by the window of her office. The young woman struggled to bring herself back down from her anger. Daniels was just one of those people she couldn't stand to be around.

'_Daniels. Fucking Daniels.'_

Her thigh was beginning to cramp, and it was then that Alex realized her whole body was in a constant tremor. She glared down at the street, contemplating a plan to get the prick into her office and push him through the glass pane. Alex shook her head and took a deep breath before sitting at her desk.

It wasn't one particular trait that Alex despised of Matthew Daniels. She simply hated him. It wasn't his pompous attitude, or the way he looked down on everyone like they owed him something, or the way he had girls practically drooling over him, _'like Piper_'. It wasn't anything in particular. His existence just made her seethe.

They hadn't always been on bad terms. Alex certainly didn't enjoy his company from the moment she met him, but it had gotten worse in the past few months. Much worse.

Each year during the month of December, the entire workforce of the publishing company is placed under review. At the end of the month, promotions are awarded to a handful of people within each department. It was a known fact that the chief editor was retiring at the end of this past year and Alex had been a prime candidate for the job. At least, until Daniels came along…

_Alex groaned and coughed as she held the phone to her ear weakly. _

"_Alex Vause's office. Daniels, here," the line finally picked up. _

"_Matt," her voice was almost non-existent as she spoke to her assistant, "I have pneumonia and I won't be in. The Hardin book is due today. The review is finis-," the black haired woman hacked into the phone forcefully, "finished. Can you get the signatures from chief and send it up?" _

"_Yeah, no problem, feel better." _

_Click. _

That had been the last civil conversation between the two editors. When Alex returned to the office a week later, she was told that her review was declined and passed deadline. She was also informed that Ben had been promoted for his extra work on Hardin's book. Alex couldn't believe it, until she read through the review that _she_ had submitted and realized that it wasn't hers. Not in the slightest.

The woman's hands were balled into tight fists as she remembered how furious she was with her assistant at the time. She went to Ben and talked to him about Daniels trashing her work and leaving her name on it, who then took him out of her office, but also gave him his own instead of firing him.

'_Ben was weak. Daniels shouldn't have a job. Fucking Daniels.' _

Shutting her eyes and taking deep breaths once more, Alex pushed her anger into the back of her mind. It would be dealt with later. For now, she needed to dive into the work on her desk. Piper's notebook was in the center of her desk, drawing her attention to it immediately. She looked over at intern's temporary chair that was still at the side of her desk. Piper's clutch was still lying there.

Alex's fingers slid through her hair and pushed her glasses onto her nose as she looked at the object. She knew she would have to take it to the girl, but she didn't want another run in with Daniels. Especially while he was with her.

'_Since when am I such a little bitch?' _

Alex instantly stood, disappointed in herself for letting the prick that was Matthew fucking Daniels get to her and also for giving a damn to begin with. She grabbed the black clutch and made her way to the open area down the hall where a dozen cubicles were set up.

Her blue-green eyes scanned over the tops of the cubicles, looking for blonde hair. She half expected the girl to appear in front of her out of thin air as she was walking and run into her. A chuckle escaped her lips at the thought.

"Alex!" she looked up and saw Piper standing a few feet in front of her, her back pressed up against the wall opposite her cubicle. The girl pushed herself off the wall and stood in front of her cubicle.

"You left this," Alex said simply as she handed the blonde her clutch. She looked into the cubicle to see a small, Hispanic man with black hair tinkering with the cords to a computer.

"Thanks," Piper's voice was soft, almost as if she were scared. Alex frowned for a second and immediately focused on the computer.

"Yeah. They never get shit set up on time in this place, if you haven't already figured that out," she joked, smiling at the IT man who shot her an evil glare before speaking under his breath. She looked at Piper who was now fighting back a tiny fit of laughter at the exchange.

"Alex, what happened earlier?" Piper spoke after a moment of silence passed between the two. She didn't know whether to tell Piper about Daniels or just let her figure it out for herself. She was about to speak when the sandy blonde headed man appeared behind Piper.

"Speaking of the devil," Alex shook her head and rolled her eyes, her voice low. The man's eyes met her own as he smirked at her.

"Piper," he spoke her name slowly, as if to taunt Alex. She just crossed her arms and looked at the IT guy who was shaking the mouse and smacking the space key like he intended to split it in half with his finger.

"Jesus Christ," Alex exclaimed as she walked into the cubicle and plugged the power cord into the outlet. She cocked her head to the side, locking eyes with the man before tapping the power button. The screen lit up and the man flipped her off. She gave him a sweet, sarcastic smile as he walked off, still muttering something under his breath.

"Okay, cool. I'll come by the cube at 5 to get you," Matthew was now walking backwards away from Piper. He cut his eyes to Alex before shooting Piper a wink and walking back down the hall. Alex scoffed.

"Alex," there's that voice again, the scared Piper. She instantly hated that voice. The black haired woman looked directly into Piper's blue eyes, looking for something, but she wasn't exactly sure what.

"Be careful with that one, kid," she warned, not going into any detail before walking to her office, grabbing her jacket and helmet and leaving work behind for the day. Piper can figure it out on her own. She needed something stronger than coffee, even if it was still morning.

"Woah! Blondy and dumbass Daniels?!" Nicky laughed, her eyes wide with surprise as she sat with her friend at Rips, which was not yet open for the night. Luckily it was Nicky's day to open and she had a set of keys. Alex just nodded.

"That's insane. I pegged her as straight, not stupid," Alex gave a short laugh and shrugged a bit. Piper wasn't stupid; she might have stupid choices in who to date, but she was a smart girl. "Hey!"

Nicky pulled her from her thoughts, yelling directly in her face. "Wake the fuck up, Vause!" The blue-green eyes that belonged to Alex took their time moving from the bar to Nicky's face.

"Geeze, what the hell happened to you?"

"Nothing!" Alex yelled louder than she intended. "Nothing happened to me," she lowered her voice and shook her head.

'_Except it did. That fucking blonde girl happened to me.' _

Alex Vause had never felt the way she was feeling right now at any point in her life. She had dated plenty of girls throughout her life and screwed more. Not once did she feel like she wanted to be around any of them for more than a day at a time. Honestly, she had finally just decided that she wasn't wired to have someone that close to her, hence the hook up phase she had been in. But, for some reason that she was sure was Satan's way of getting back at her for all the shit she had done in her life, she couldn't push the blonde's face out of her head. Her high cheek bones and the way her lips curved when she laughed; the way she cut her eyes at her.

'_Fuck!'_

"You need something, kid?" Nicky asked, actually being serious for a split second. Alex just gave her a halfhearted smile, appreciating the effort Nicky was putting into being helpful. Her best friend had always been the one to joke her way through a bad situation, but she could also be stern when Alex was losing her edge, like she was doing now.

"Yeah, I need to get her out of my life. Quickly." Alex responded, biting at the inside of her jaw and glancing off into space.

"I know what you mean," Alex looked at Nicky, suddenly confused, "remember Lorna? The short one with the accent?"

"Yeah, wait, weren't you two a thing recently?" the fuzzy haired girl had been dating, or "casually seeing" in Nicky's terms, Lorna for a short amount of time.

"Yup, we were. Until she decided she needed to stop because her boyfriend proposed," Alex's eyebrows shot up and Nicky started picking up liquor bottles. "Straight girls. They get ya' every time. Vause, just push her out of your life. You don't need all that drama."

Alex hated the idea, even though she considered it for a second. Alex Vause didn't lose. It was as simple as that and she wasn't going to start now. Daniels was going down in a slow, steady, painful slope, until Alex had him right where she wanted him. An evil smile formed on her lips as she looked back at her friend. Nicky knew that she would never give in that easily.

"There's the bad ass Vause that we all know and love," Nicky retorted, "well, most people hate you 'cause you're an asshole, but I still love ya'." Alex chuckled and flipped her hair back as she leaned back on the stool.

"Ah, here it is," Nicky poured two shots of bourbon and sat one in front of Alex. She picked up the glass and held it up looking at Nicky before throwing it back and placing the glass back down for Nicky to refill. She began to laugh.

"You remember the night we did those fireball shots?"

* * *

_A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for each alert, favorite, follow, and all of the wonderful reviews. It's really encouraging me to write more and keep the story going strong. This chapter ends the setup of the story and now comes the fun stuff! It wasn't my favorite to write, but I needed it to get a few things rolling. _

_Anyway, I hope you all continue to enjoy the story. I have a large portion of it planned out, but I probably won't get around to posting again until closer to the weekend due to travelling._

_Edited this morning because I couldn't live with the way I left Alex at the end of the chapter. _


	5. Insanity & Truth

**The Internship**

**Chapter 5: **

_Insanity & Truth_

Piper sat in her cubicle, twisting in her chair unsure of what to do both at work and in her personal life. It was now 4 and she hadn't seen Alex since midday. She kept expecting the woman to be standing behind her, making her jump with her strangely soothing, raspy voice. So far, it hadn't happened.

The blonde put her head on her desk and closed her eyes. Her first day had gone exceptionally well, despite the crazy aspects. The second, however, was turning into a complete shit show. Matt had assumed that Piper would be going to dinner with him tonight. She hadn't even given him a proper answer before he was backing away. The way he had handled the situation had really put her off, as did Alex's warning earlier.

"Be careful with that one, kid," her voice had seemed to waiver a bit when she had finally spoken to the intern. Piper just shrugged it off, knowing full and well that the dark haired woman was not Matt's biggest fan. Who cares what she thinks, anyway?

'_You care.' _

Piper groaned and heard footsteps off to her right. The blonde focused intently on the sound of movement and, as soon as she realized that they were getting closer to her, she instantly spun around in her chair.

"Ale-," she stalled as a random woman passed by. Shit, she was losing it. The intern pulled her phone out and began speedily tapping her thumbs across the keyboard.

"**Hey, Alex… Do you have anything for me to do?"**

Piper hesitated before pressing send, fully aware of her true intentions. She wanted to know that Alex wasn't upset with her. She couldn't be. Why would she be? I didn't do anything wrong. After a few minutes of staring at the darkened screen, she gave in and pushed her chair back before making her way to the editor's office.

Alex's door was shut. Her door hadn't been shut for the entire time Piper had been there so far, so she really didn't know whether to knock or come back later. Her fist was hanging midair in front of the door when she heard a man say her name.

"Ben," she forced a smile onto her face. "Have you seen Alex?" She blurted out quickly. He gave her a strange look before his eyes shifted to Alex's office door.

"Only time Vause's door is shut is when she's gone for the day. She must not be feeling well or something; the girl practically lives here." Hearing those words made Piper's face fall in disappointment. Maybe Alex really was pissed at her.

"Something wrong, Chapman?" Ben had noticed her expression change. She hadn't realized how bad she was at hiding her feelings until recently.

"No," she said almost too quickly, "No, sir. I just… don't really have anything to do," she gave a half smile to the chief editor, hoping she had pacified his interest in why she was standing at Alex's door looking like a lost puppy. Ben gave her a smile before patting her on the shoulder.

"Enjoy it while it lasts. Trust me."

And with that, the man left her at the door and she retreated to her desk.

The rest of the day, Piper did nothing but randomly surf the internet and glance at her phone. She had turned it on vibrate an hour ago, but continued to check it anyway, thinking that maybe she hadn't heard it buzz on the wooden desk.

'_Why should I give a damn what she thinks? She's only my manager for three more days and then I'm done with her. She's just one person." _

One person she couldn't get out of her head.

"Hey, ready to go?" Matt's smooth voice pulled Piper back to reality. She frowned, but immediately forced herself to stop. What in the hell was she complaining about? She was about to go to dinner with this gorgeous man.

"Yeah, definitely," she smiled at Daniels before grabbing her coat and clutch and letting him lead her out of the office.

"… and I went to a small private college you've probably never heard of. I graduated top of my class…," Piper was doing her best to look interested in whatever topic Matt was droning on about now. She sipped at her water every time she wanted to roll her eyes. She'd had two refills so far, and they hadn't gotten their meals yet. Piper was thankful that the cafe was only a short walk down the street from the office. She couldn't imagine being in a car with him.

The blonde woman secretly checked her phone under the table, still waiting for a response from her seemingly pissed off manager. Honestly, she was getting pissed off, too. Why in the hell did Alex have any right to be angry? She didn't own her. She was nothing to her.

'_Nothing…'_

"Piper?" her blue eyes shot back to the beautiful stone infused ones across from her. It really was a shame that this gorgeous man was so engrossed in himself. If she had truly been the debutante that her mother wished she was, she knew that this was the kind of man that she would end up spending her life with. If she were to ever take Matt home with her, oh, Piper could hear her mother's squeal of joy now. It made her want to gag.

"Yes?" she gave him her sweetest voice, still trying to pull off her listening act. So far it seemed like it was still holding strong.

"That's what I thought," Matt's voice dropped and held a tinge of anger. He looked at her as if she had committed some terrible crime.

'_Oops, maybe it wasn't working...'_

"Look, Piper, you really should stay away from her," his voice had changed into one that verged on the edge of sincerity. She wasn't wholly convinced.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Matt," she acted dumb, not wanting to admit to anything. There was nothing to admit. Alex was pissed at her and he had to be the reason; that was all.

"Yes, you do," he smirked, "I walked in at the perfect time today. You should thank me," Piper shot him a confused look, "you two in the kitchen this morning? She was about to draw you into her little game."

"What are you talking about?" Piper almost yelled. She hadn't meant to, but she was sick of people beating around the bush. She had been warned about Alex by Jerry and other people had joked about her being a bitch, but she didn't understand what was so awful about the woman. If there was some deep, dark, evil part of Alex Vause, Piper certainly hadn't seen it yet. Matt's hands were suddenly covering her own on the table. She wanted to pull back, but she needed to know.

"Alex is a user, Piper. She draws people in with her wild girl act and her confidence, then she takes advantage of them. When she's done sucking the life out of us, we're just tossed off to the side."

Piper's jaw dropped slightly as she tried to comprehend what she was hearing. "We're?"

Alex had looked at Daniels like she would rather have been dead than be standing in the same room with the sandy blonde haired man. There was no way that anything had happened between them.

"Yeah. We're," his voice raised a bit and his eyes glanced away before locking back with her own.

"Alex and I were partners on a big client's book shortly after I started working with Big Apple. I had worked my ass off on the revisions and it was almost finished, but she completely screwed us over. The day before the deadline she changed a lot at the last minute, removed a lot of _my_ work, and submitted it behind _my _back. It was denied."

Piper Chapman was in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She didn't know what to believe. Alex didn't give off that kind of vibe to Piper at all. She had trusted the woman, hell she had practically opened up to the woman. She would've told her anything she wanted to know this morning, so what now?

"I think she was jealous," Matt continued, clearly noticing that Piper was very confused, "that I was climbing in the company so quickly. She resented me. I confronted her about the changes the night after we had been told that the revisions were declined by the client. She was plastered."

Matt leaned up out of his chair, leaning over the table supporting himself with his elbows. His voice was almost a whisper, "She tried to kiss me. Told me she was sorry for what she did and started going on about how badly she wanted me," Piper jerked back from the table, now angry to go along with the confusion. "I pushed her away and reported her to Ben. Now she hates me because I ruined her chances at a promotion," Matt spoke the last part of that sentence while motioning his hands in an air quote gesture.

Piper hadn't even heard the last part of his story. The young blonde ran her fingers back through her hair as she tried to straighten out the new information in her head. It didn't make sense. Alex couldn't be who he was saying she was. She had stood up for her at the bar with Larry, laughed with her this morning. She wasn't even pissed when she ran into her for the second time. She wanted to shake her head and erase everything from her thoughts, but she felt paralyzed.

The phone in her hand, currently being crushed by her grip, buzzed forcefully and caused her entire body to jerk. It continued to buzz until she finally answered.

"Hello?" Piper hadn't even taken a second to look at the caller ID.

"Piper! For Christ's sake, I thought something had happened to you up there!" Piper took a deep slow breath and tried to calm down.

"No, Pol, I'm fine. I'm sorry I haven't called. Hang on a sec," the woman on the phone was still talking as she pulled it away from her face and grabbed her things.

"I'm really sorry, but I have to go," she gave Matt an empty apologetic look as she walked out of the restaurant. She didn't notice the evil grin across her co-worker's face as she quickly left.

* * *

Alex's hair was blowing across her back as she swerved in and out of traffic on her way to work. She was late getting in which wasn't normal for her at all, but last night had been a late one.

Instead of her normal antics of getting drunk and picking up a pretty girl at the bar to distract her for the night, she had stopped at the getting drunk part. Really drunk. Her head pounded with every flash of light, honk of a horn, and even the roar of her bike.

It was going to be a long day.

Alex rode the elevator up to the 18th floor instead of taking her stroll up the stairs. Usually, the long walk up would help her clear her mind, but today she just wanted her chair and her coffee.

"Rough night, Vause?" Ben was standing by the elevator as the doors slid open. She gave him a small smile.

"That obvious, huh?" Her boss nodded and chuckled in response before trading spots with her.

"Quarterly meeting. Today at 3. Don't forget," he called after her as she made her way to her office. She just waved her hand at him, signaling that she knew. The black haired woman stared at the floor as she walked, trying to keep the light exposure to a minimum until she reached the comfort of her office. Sadly, when she reached her door, she wasn't alone.

"Well, you look like hell," Alex shut her eyes and rolled them, cussing under her breath when she heard the snarky man's voice.

"Fuck off, Daniels," he was standing directly in front of her door. She stopped and glared at the man, who was clearly amused by himself. "What the hell are you so damn happy about?"

"I was just going to ask you to take it easy on Piper today. She might still be a little tired," his wink and suggestive voice made Alex wretch. "I guess it was a late night for both of us, huh Vause?"

The editor crossed her arms over her chest and laughed heartily before pressing her lips together in an evil grin. "Even if Piper was desperate enough to get into bed with the poster boy for the 'My Mother Still Buys My Clothes' edition of 'Steroids and Hair Gel weekly', I highly doubt that it was late before you passed out with your thumb in your mouth."

"Do I sense a little jealousy?" His voice cut the air with an edge of anger; Alex just smiled.

"Not in the slightest, Daniels. Now, if you would ever so kindly get the fuck out of my way," she spoke in the sweetest, most condescending tone she could muster.

"Watch it, Vause," the man was trying to scare her now, he was pushing out his chest and trying to look down on Alex. He was only about an inch taller than she was, making his attempt laughable to her. She took the back of her hand and pushed him to the side, unlocking her door and shutting it behind her quietly, not even acknowledging the apparent threat.

Alex pulled the blinds to her large window shut, blocking out almost all of the morning sun, and took a seat at her desk. She pushed her glasses up on top of her head before rubbing her face with her hands. Opening her eyes slowly, she looked at her coffee mug and groaned. She had forgotten about coffee thanks to Daniels' bullshit attempt at pissing her off. She didn't believe for a second that Piper had slept with the jug headed idiot. If she was the woman that Alex believed she was, there was no way in hell she would stoop that low while she was sober.

The black haired editor knew that if she walked out right now, she would be subjected to his taunts and bullshit once again. She decided to wait it out and repositioned the black frames of her glasses back onto her nose before reaching for her intern's notebook that was still sitting in the middle of her desk.

She flipped through the pages, not reading them in depth quite yet, but looking for the key points of each review. The first was a short story that Piper had clearly not enjoyed. Alex expected that response from the girl, considering it was poorly written and wasn't at all interesting.

"Just another teenager against the world story, except this one doesn't seem to have a plot," Alex chuckled at the comment. She was right, it was a sucky story.

Overall, the editor was pleased with what she was seeing. Piper had gone into great detail with every review. She had commented on both the grammatical and technical issues, as well as the creative aspects involving story and plot development. Alex finished skimming the final review before she glanced at the page number.

'_22? But the reviews go to 23...'_

Alex turned the page, her eyes growing wide as she read the title.

"The Observer" by: Unknown Author

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. She must have accidentally grabbed the poem when she picked up the stack on her desk. Alex was torn; she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what Piper thought about the piece or not. After all, no one had actually ever read anything that _she_ had written.

A knock on the door made Alex shut the notebook quickly, tossing it under her desk. Out of mind, out of sight. It took her a second before she gathered the wits to stand up and open the door.

"Thought you might need this," Ben was standing at the door with a Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hand. She smiled thankfully to her friend.

"Thanks, Chief. You thought right," the woman turned to the side, letting Ben into her office after taking the hot cup of coffee. She took a long drink of the warm drink, thankful for the caffeine.

"I owe you, remember," he laughed and she chuckled.

"Consider us even, Piper isn't as bad as I expected," Alex leaned back against her desk, sitting on the edge looking at the middle aged man in her office. Saying her name made her mind travel back to the blonde girl that she hadn't spoken to since yesterday morning. Nicky had taken her phone from her yesterday afternoon after she received the text from the intern, refusing to let her text her back.

"I figured you didn't mind too awful much after we went out to Rips the other night," Ben's eyes held a knowing look. Alex just ignored it, refusing to speak until he explained why he was in her office. "Speaking of Ms. Chapman, she's looking for something to do."

"Yeah, I was about to send her an email with some useful info on editing. I figure she won't mind reading up on some useful info while I try to find something else for her to do," Alex bullshitted the man. She hadn't even thought of the intern's lack of work since the text message yesterday afternoon. Ben just nodded and continued to look at her strangely.

"You okay, Alex?" he finally asked. She just smiled.

"You act like you've never seen me hung over before, Chief. I'm fine," her voice was strong, despite the lack of sleep and pounding migraine. Alex knew how to hide herself from people. The young woman prided herself for it. That, and knowing how to get what she wanted, regardless of whether it required a short term or long term plan.

"Okay, I'll leave you to it, then. See you later," her boss left her office, buying her act. He left the door open when he exited, but Alex couldn't justify using any energy to get up and close it. She considered texting Piper and asking her to come to her office just so she could tell her to shut the door. A light chuckle escaped her slightly parted lips before she took another long sip from her coffee. She could see the blonde girl's blue eyes now, staring at her with that confused look that Alex already had memorized.

No, she wouldn't call the girl in. She wouldn't see her until much later today. She was going to let her stew a little. Piper had to think that Alex was upset with her, even though it wasn't really true. Alex hadn't been upset with her. She was just angry about the whole Daniels thing.

'_Aka, jealous.' _

The dark haired woman laughed at the thought. Alex Vause, jealous? Alex hadn't had an actual relationship in over a year. Even prior to that, she hadn't ever been the jealous type. She was pretty easy going when it came to that sort of thing.

Alex Vause does not do jealousy.

The rest of the day was extremely uneventful for the raven haired woman, which pleased her immensely. After sending the email to Piper that she had told Ben about, she only received a thank you in the responding email. She had smirked when she read it, imagining the torture the blonde down the hall was putting herself through over her. Otherwise, Alex had done a little cleaning up in the office, keeping it quiet and calm on her finally recovering head. The only item laying in the floor was the notebook under her desk, which she refused to even consider touching.

When 3 PM rolled around, Alex left her dark cave and entered conference room F. The room was already full of people who were sitting in their little cliques on their respective ends of the large table. The editor had never really fit in with the rest of the office. Besides Ben, Jerry, and sometimes Destiny, she was pretty much a loner. It suited her just fine. She found an empty space to stand on the opposite end of the room.

The dull roar of the voices in the room came to a slow halt as Ben started the meeting. Alex yawned, covering her mouth with her hand as she scanned the room. Her eyes fell on the door as it opened slowly, a pair of familiar blue eyes peaking in before the small frame of Piper Chapman slipped in. Alex dropped her eyes, not looking at the girl, knowing she was burning a hole through her skull right that second. The next face Alex found was Daniels' who was sitting near the doorway. He stood and silently offered Piper the chair. The editor couldn't quite believe it when the intern turned down the open seat.

Alex Vause stood in the corner of the room silently through the entire meeting, never meeting the eyes of her intern across the room. The end of the meeting came after an hour and the room cleared quickly. She let the crowd file out before she even tried to reach the door. When she finally began to make her way out, a tight grip on her wrist pulled her back in, making mysterious goose bumps form on her arm.

'_What the fuck?' _

Piper Chapman shut the door behind her and leaned her back against it, clearly not allowing Alex to leave the room. The dark haired woman sat against the large table, gripping the edge with both of her hands as she looked at the blonde.

"What can I do for you, Piper?" she was not expecting this in the slightest. What was she doing, ambushing her?

"You can tell me why I'm supposed to be scared of you," Alex raised her eyebrows, shocked once more by the words that fell from the blondes lips, which she had just realized she was staring at. At this point, Alex's entire plan was immediately disbanded; clearly it wasn't working as she believed it was.

"Scared of me?" Alex spoke quickly, unsure of what was going on, but she quickly regained her wits and lowered her voice to try and draw Piper back to her, "Are you scared of me?"

Piper shut her eyes. The gesture made Alex want to touch the girl and make her look at her. What the hell was she thinking? She couldn't read her while her eyes were shut. To be completely fair, she hadn't been great at reading Piper to begin with.

"Just answer the question." The sharpness of her voice was strange to the woman.

"Piper, I don't know why you're even asking me that," Alex retorted, releasing a breath she didn't know she had been holding when Piper finally opened her eyes.

"Forget that… What happened between you and Matt?" Piper's tone was still completely neutral. There was no emotion at all for Alex to base her responses off of or know how she should react to please the woman.

"He fucked me over on getting the Chief Editor position while he was working under me as an assistant," Alex responded nonchalantly, "and he's a dick." Alex crossed her arms and shrugged before realizing what was going on. "Piper, what did he tell you?"

* * *

"You're fucking shitting me!" Alex was furious, her fists clenched at her sides, as Piper explained what Matt had told her last night. Pushing him out of her window was sounding better by the second. "Piper, that's complete bullshit. I have both reviews in my office in a filing cabinet if you want proof. Or you could ask Ben, he knows everything."

The blonde's face looked both satisfied and relieved as Alex stormed around the conference room. She shook her head and took a deep breath, drawing Alex's attention back to her.

"I want to fucking kill him," she looked at the blonde woman whose lips were curling into a slow smile.

"I'd be glad to give you an alibi," Piper's laugh was like ice to Alex's temper. The pacing ended when she heard it and she couldn't help but smile.

"So how was the date?" Alex cocked up her left eyebrow, watching the girl closely now to gauge her reaction. It wasn't too difficult, considering the woman crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes, snarling up her lip slightly. "That bad, huh?" The dark haired woman chuckled.

"Worse. He never fucking shuts up," blue eyes met the blue-green mixture that were Alex's as they shared another of their silent, kitchen moments. A smile formed on the lips of both of the women as they laughed and never broke their gazes. The moment ended with Piper biting her lower lip; the sight made Alex's legs feel like jell-o.

"Why did you even go out with that jackass?" The question left her mouth before she even realized it was a thought. Alex wasn't known for filtering what she said, but she normally _knew_ when she was going to say something crazy.

"He didn't really give me a choice," Piper began, obviously put off by Matt's personality. Knowing this made Alex very happy.

'_I knew she wasn't shallow…' _

"…and it's not like my first choice was around to woo me," Alex's eyes shot up to Piper's, who looked like she was about to pass out. Her cheeks were blood red and her mouth was slightly open; the woman had clearly meant for that thought to stay in her mind. Alex smiled widely as Piper refused to meet her eyes.

With a light chuckle and no thought at all, Alex Vause had Piper's hand in hers, pulling her down the hall towards her office.

"Alex!" Piper was struggling to keep up with her, caught off guard by the quick movement. "Where are we going?" The editor readjusted her glasses and turned around, facing Piper as she continued walking backwards.

"Apparently, I have to woo you," she gave the blonde a wink before laughing heartily and turning back around. Alex's mind was finally resting, no longer thinking in strategy and tactic, as she pulled laughing blonde along behind her.

* * *

_A/N: As always, thank you all for the wonderful reviews! The response is phenomenal and I can't express the feeling of reading each one! I am so thrilled that you all are still enjoying the story. I apologize for not having this chapter up sooner, but I've been thinking it over in my head for days now (yeah, I'm slightly obsessed) and I finally figured out how I wanted the characters to handle this little hump. (Yes, little, because there will be much worse, muahahaha). _

_Enjoy! _

_Additionally, to those who celebrate it, Happy Fourth of July! _


	6. The Beginning & Chocolate

**The Internship**

**Chapter 6: **

_The Beginning & Chocolate _

Piper Chapman wasn't quite sure what was happening to her. Time was crawling, her slightly sun-kissed skin was prickling and her hands were nervously twitching and becoming clammy. The blonde's jaw was locked into a dropped position and there was no way she would be able to speak again, or move for that matter. She was frozen.

Until she wasn't. A warm rush brought her back from her stone still state and she was now on the move, not really sure how or why her legs were moving.

"…_and it's not like my first choice was around to woo me." _

The words had fallen from her mouth so quickly that she hadn't had a chance to comprehend what she had said, let alone what she had meant.

'_My first choice?'_

The blonde's mind was racing. There was no more pushing it to the back of her thoughts; no more denying that she'd been constantly thinking about Alex Vause since she had smacked her in the back with the door only three days ago. Three days, and she was an absolute mess of confusion. Wait, why are we moving?

"Alex!" She hadn't meant to yell, but Piper needed her own voice to carry over all the screaming and conflict in her brain. Alex was _her manager_ for crying out loud! But, did that even matter? Wait, does Alex even know what I said? Maybe she didn't understand correctly. Maybe _I _didn't understand correctly.

'_Maybe, but not really; Alex isn't stupid, and I should really learn to shut the fuck up. '_

Piper moved her feet with more thought now, no longer being dragged behind the quickly moving raven haired woman.

"Where are we going?" The words finally came out, much more forced than her previous, unplanned outburst. Alex turned to her, still making her way towards her office, and locked eyes with Piper.

"Apparently, I have to woo you," Piper couldn't help but bite on her lower lip in a smile as her manager gave her a wink and a smirk before continuing down the hall. She mentally cussed the length of the office hallways. Wherever they were going, Piper wanted to know.

'_Calm yourself, damn.' _

The door to Alex's office was swung open in front of her and a helmet was shoved into her hands, which were now both at a normal temperature once again. The blonde woman took a deep breath and finally came to terms with what was reality. Alex had understood, and Piper was definitely into the mysterious, beautiful woman. They were leaving, and she had no idea where they were going. And, she was perfectly fine with that.

"I said woo me," Piper joked as she watched Alex pull her arms into her leather jacket. She held up the helmet and raised an eyebrow, joking with the woman. "I've already been on your motorcycle, Alex." She smiled as Alex pulled her black hair out of the collar of her jacket and walked toward her, stopping only an inch from her face.

"Well, I didn't exactly have notice or I would've called my limo driver," Alex pulled the door shut behind her. Alex's lips curled into a smirk as she bit at the side of her jaw, holding back a laugh. "I mean, I could always call a cab."

"Bike's good," Piper stood her ground for a moment; the two were only inches apart once again and Alex was still holding onto the door knob. The blonde turned on her heel and headed for the elevator, being sure to flip her blonde hair a bit as she did so. She felt Alex's gaze on her, but didn't dare turn around knowing that as soon as she did she would lose her edge.

She hit the button for the elevator and leaned her weight into her hip, turning to speak to Alex as she waited. However, the woman wasn't behind her any longer.

'_What the fuck?'_

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open as Piper lifted up on her toes, looking for the tall woman down the other hallways. She was gone. The blonde intern narrowed her eyes before realizing the elevator was closing. She jumped in quickly, making the doors jerk slightly and open once more before closing and heading to the ground floor.

'_Did she really fucking leave me?'_

Piper's hands started fidgeting once again as she convinced herself that Alex was just messing with her. She had given her a helmet after all, if she had no intentions of going anywhere, she wouldn't have done that.

Looking around the lobby, the intern only saw the woman at the front desk. Thankfully, she noticed the confused look on Piper's face and diverted her eyes outside. Piper glanced and saw that Alex's bike was sitting outside running, and the raven haired woman was standing next to it, her arms crossed over her chest as if she'd been waiting for hours.

"Valet," the raspy voice spoke as Piper pushed through the glass doors. She'd honestly expected a crack about the doors, but she guessed that Alex was saving that for another time.

"Now, that's what I'm talking about," Piper joked, smiling as she pulled her hair into a low ponytail and slipped her helmet on. Alex threw her leg over the bike and revved the engine; the motion looked so smooth to Piper that it still felt like she was in a dream. She followed, getting onto the bike less gracefully as the dark haired woman, and she slipped her thumbs into the loops of Alex's black skinny jeans.

The blue-green eyes caught her smile as they flashed over Alex's shoulder. Piper just looked at the woman expectantly, waiting for the bike to jerk into gear. She wondered if Alex was smiling behind the helmet; she could imagine the glossy, dark red lips pressed and curled into a smirk behind the helmet's visor.

"Where do you live?" Alex's voice carried over the engine. The blonde cocked her head to the side, wondering what her raven haired manager was planning.

"Gallant Apartments, over on Rose," Piper yelled a little louder than she intended, but Alex simply nodded and pulled her feet up, taking off.

The motorcycle roared over everything. The still cars stuck in traffic, the dull roar of people talking on the streets as they left their jobs for the day and ventured elsewhere, and Piper's own rapidly beating heart. Piper had never been one to want to ride a motorcycle. Quite frankly, the thought of nothing between her and the ground scared the absolute shit out of her. The first time she had ridden with Alex to Rips, she had every intention of saying no, but for some reason she didn't and took the plunge. The woman handled herself and the bike like she had done nothing but ride for ten years, so Piper was completely fine with it now. She actually found that she enjoyed the wind and being able to watch the world pass by in a colorful blur.

Only a few minutes into the ride through back alleys and between cars on the busy streets, Alex was down shifting and pulling the bike into the parking lot of Piper's apartment complex. When the bike stopped, Piper swung herself off of the bike, steadying herself by placing her hands on Alex's hips, intentionally sliding her finger tips off of her body slowly. Alex slid her visor back, her eyes narrowing at the blonde as she removed her helmet and held it to her side. Piper envisioned that slightly evil, extremely hot smirk that was now hidden behind the helmet once again.

"I'll be back in an hour and a half. Which apartment is yours?" Alex asked, her eyes not leaving the blonde's. Piper's stomach was starting to feel as if it were floating away from her, a feeling she definitely wasn't use to.

"307," she told the woman who nodded in response and pushed her visor back down, walking the bike backwards. "Alex, where are we going?"

"Just wear something nice," the raspy voice spoke expertly over the engine once again, "don't go too formal, though." Piper swore she heard a slight chuckle before she watched the black bike speed out of the parking lot and swerve back into the New York traffic.

* * *

Piper only had twenty minutes until Alex had said she would be back. She had fixed her hair three times before finally deciding to curl it into loose waves and let it fall naturally. The blonde was staring in the mirror, absentmindedly smoothing out the short dark red dress she had decided on. Even though she was looking at her reflection, the young woman was not quite seeing herself. Instead she was looking past herself, trying to figure out what exactly was happening. Piper knew nothing right now, or so it seemed. Nothing, except that she was drawn to Alex Vause.

The blonde was finishing up her eye liner, when a knock on her door caused her to stab herself in the eye with the pen.

"Fuck," she cursed under her breath as she squinted her eye. "Just a second," she yelled to the door, running her finger along her lower lid to straighten out the now smudged eye. She slipped on her black, strappy heels and took one last look in the mirror, tossing her hair out a bit to give it more body. After a deep breath, she made her way to the door and opened it slowly.

Alex stood in the hallway before her, standing taller than normal in her heels. Piper's eyes started there, taking in the length of her legs and then finding the material of her dress, which fit perfectly to her hour glass frame.

"Hey," Piper mouthed and then cleared her throat, grabbing her clutch off the table next to the door, holding it in front of her in both hands.

"Hey, back at you," Alex's voice was soft. "Ready to go?" Piper let the door fall to a close behind her, as she nodded and pushed her hair back from her face nervously.

"Definitely," her voice was more confident now. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?" She looked up into the eyes of her manager, finding that they looked slightly different than normal. The blue-green orbs were more intense than she had seen, but it seemed like Alex was in deep thought. The black haired woman shook her head slightly before leading her out of the apartment complex.

"To dinner," Alex smirked, looking straight ahead as they walked side by side until reaching the door. Piper took an extra step, making sure to reach the door first and opening it for Alex.

"No shit," Piper laughed as she gave her a hateful look, to which Alex bit her jaw as she smiled. Piper followed behind Alex into the chilly air. The sun was beginning to go down and the purple tinted sky was a perfect backdrop for the night. She took a moment to let the scene sink in: the buildings towering over her, the now steadily moving traffic, and the woman standing before her beside-.

_'Really?'_

"A cab," she said plainly, looking to Alex who was failing to hold in her laughter.

"I thought we could try to remedy your whole hatred of cabs thing," Alex shrugged, opening the door and waiting for her to climb in. "I mean, it may not work. You may hate them more."

Piper shook her head and walked towards Alex.

'_For some reason, I doubt that.'_

* * *

Alex shut the door to the cab, sliding into the seat beside the blonde intern. Her mind was still on the third floor of Piper's apartment building, staring at the woman as she opened the door and stepped towards her.

'_Holy hell.' _

The always confident, composed woman had lost it for a split second back there. She was thankful that Piper had spoken first because her mouth had gone completely dry. Her eyes wandered toward the woman, watching her as she had her attention turned to the window to their left. Alex wondered what was going on in the woman's mind.

She placed her hand on Piper's bicep lightly, feeling her jump a tiny bit under her touch. Blue eyes were now meeting hers, a sweet smile accompanying them.

"If you start to get sick because of the cab, make sure you puke that way," Alex joked, chuckling slightly as Piper rolled her eyes.

"I think the nausea has passed, I'll be good from here on out," Piper retorted, her soft laughter filling the cab

'_Oh, I certainly hope not.' _

The cab ride was a quick one and before they knew it, Alex and Piper were standing outside the luxurious Italian restaurant. Alex didn't really know what she was doing here, still. One minute, she had been planning on getting Piper to stumble over herself into Alex's bed and the next minute she was calling her favorite restaurant for reservations for two.

What the fuck was she doing?

One look at the blonde woman entering the restaurant as she held the door and her mind stopped wondering. Piper Chapman didn't fall into Alex's usual spectrum of women, which consisted of two things: easy and shallow. No, Piper was different; very different, though she wasn't quite sure what that meant to her.

"Two, under Vause," she told the hostess who nodded and looked down at her list.

"It'll be a few minutes, is that alright, Ms. Vause?" Alex nodded and turned back to Piper who was standing behind her.

"Want to grab a drink?" Piper questioned before she had the chance. Alex smiled and placed her hand on the woman's lower back, following her through the small crowd to the bar.

"Margarita?" Alex looked at the blonde who pressed her lips together and looked at the bar tender.

"I'll have a Mascato," she told the man after she slowly turned her eyes away from Alex.

"Same," Alex told the man, not removing her gaze from the woman. "My, aren't we full of surprises?" She smiled as Piper shrugged playfully.

"You have no idea," Piper's voice was filled with a promise that Alex subconsciously was hoping she would keep. She wanted to know everything there was to know about the woman. Alex raised her eyebrows and watched her play with her blonde hair in response.

"Oh, yeah?" she challenged as the drinks were poured in front of them, neither of them turning to acknowledge the act. Alex simply picked up the glass, swirling it in a small circle. "Enlighten me." She took a sip of the wine, her eyes gazing over the top of the glass as she did so.

"What do you want to know?" Piper's body was turned toward Alex. Her legs crossed and her wine glass held lightly between her fingertips. Any less of a grip on the glass and it would be in a thousand shards on the floor. The woman also had perfect posture. She had to be from money, but for the first time, Alex didn't resent it. It suited the blonde, it fit her; and, as far as she knew, it didn't affect how she treated others.

"How did you end up at B. A. P?" Piper's lips were pressed to the lip of the wine glass when Alex questioned her. She brought the glass down and rested it on the bare skin above her knee as she answered.

"I'm studying creative writing at Smith, which I'm sure you already knew," Alex nodded, "I basically just looked for anything in the field that was a decent distance from home." The editor noticed a slight waiver in Piper's voice when she spoke of her home.

"Where's home?" She didn't want to pry, but maybe she would tell her more if she asked a general question.

"Connecticut," Piper took another drink of wine. "What about you?" Alex ran her fingers through her dark hair, turning her bar stool so she was leaning her elbow against the bar and facing Piper.

"New York, born and raised," she spoke unenthusiastically. "You're not supposed to ask me questions. You're supposed to talk about yourself the entire time, remember?" Alex narrowed her eyes in a smirk at Piper who laughed at her shot at Matt.

"Right, right," Piper's hand reached out, moving from her chest to Alex's knee cap, "I'm sorry. How rude of me." Piper removed her hand slowly, but Alex's knee still felt warm from her touch.

"My mother doesn't exactly approve of my career choice," Piper's eyes glanced away toward her glass momentarily. "I don't meet her standards as a Chapman, which is pretty pathetic considering the only requirements seem to be lying and putting on a show for people."

Alex listened intently, watching as the tip of Piper's pointer finger lightly traced the rim of the wine glass as she spoke.

"But, that's why I applied for every internship I could find away from that place," Piper finished, meeting Alex's eyes as they both lifted their heads again. A silence fell over them as Alex wondered what thoughts were really dancing behind those blue eyes.

"Ms. Vause," Alex had to pry her eyes away, now looking toward the hostess, "your table is ready." Alex turned to Piper, who was already standing and sliding the bar tender money for the drinks. She gestured for Piper to walk in front before sliding the man a tip and following behind.

* * *

"You're kidding me," Alex looked dumbfounded. Piper was covering her face with her menu, trying to fight back her laughter. She shook her head a bit.

"No, really," Piper had just finished telling her that she had seen their waitress at a party. Apparently, the woman was also a part time stripper; a bad one. "Once someone finally got her out of the bathtub, she tried to get dressed and start all over. Chocolate was everywhere." The woman motioned with her hands, waving them outward.

Every time their waitress walked by, the two women shared a knowing glance and a chuckle. "Chocolate, huh? Maybe I should tell Nicky to hire her for my next birthday."

"I think you can do better," Piper said matter-of-factly, winking at Alex across the table. The dark haired woman felt the corner of her lips pull into a smile.

_'Where did the timid little intern go?'_

"But, anyway," Piper continued after taking another sip of wine, "Where'd you go to school?" Alex adjusted her glasses and pushed a stray strand of hair back before answering.

"I didn't," noticing the confused look on Piper's face, she continued, "I took a few classes at community, paid for them while I was bartending, but I never got a degree." She waited, for the condescending remark, for the whole speech on how she should've finished school. Alex's eyes were drifting, avoiding the look she knew the blonde was giving her.

"Wow, that's pretty amazing. You're doing well to not have the ever important document saying you know some pointless shit," Piper's words shocked Alex, the truth in her voice shocking her even more. How she wasn't use to the surprises of the young woman by now, she wasn't sure.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Alex smiled, looking back at Piper who's eyes looked as though they held a tinge of admiration. It was nice to feel like she had done something right in her life, for once. Piper's phone buzzed in her clutch on the table, but the woman ignored it. "Are you gonna get that?"

Blue eyes glanced toward the noise and she reached over to the clutch, pressing a button to silence the phone without even opening it.

"No, I'm busy," Piper's smile never left, "besides, it's only my mom or Polly. They can wait. You disappeared on me once already today." Alex chuckled.

"Don't act like you didn't enjoy my little stunt," she challenged, flirting with the woman with her Vause charm.

"After thinking you left me for a split second, _and_ that I was going to have to work with you after was pretty sure I made a complete idiot of myself," Piper glared at her playfully, a look Alex was beginning to enjoy, "Yeah, I guess I enjoyed it." A smirk played on the woman's lips as the waitress came over to take their orders.

"I'll have the linguine carbonara," Alex handed the waitress her menu before turning her attention back to the woman sitting across from her, "and could you bring a dessert menu? I'd like a recommendation. I prefer something drizzled in chocolate." A smug, twisted smirk played on her lips as she readjusted her glasses. Piper's snort and muffled laughter was music to her ears.

* * *

"The look on her face when you said that," Piper was holding onto Alex's arm as they left the restaurant where they had spent most of the night just talking and laughing, "fucking priceless. You're an evil one, Miss Vause."

"Oh, please," the dark haired woman smiled, looking slightly down at Piper, "that was nothing. I did not expect her to actually react like that though. And, I never got a fucking dessert menu."

The street lamps lit the sidewalks of New York beautifully and the chilled air made Alex feel right at home. She had traveled a bit in her younger days; nothing fancy, just little trips to get her away from life for a bit. They were nice and she expected to go overseas later on, after she made a little money, but nothing quite felt like being in the bustle of New York City. It fit her like a glove; it also fit her like the gentle, slightly chilled, grip of the petite hands on her arm at the moment.

"Your hands are cold," Alex said softly as they continued walking. The blonde released her arm, leaving the spots where she had been holding on feeling bare.

"Sorry," Piper crossed her arms over her chest, laying her hands on her elbows. The editor stopped walking momentarily, shrugging off her leather jacket. The blonde had stopped in front of her, now turned facing her.

"I didn't mean you had to let go," Alex smiled softly, hoping to reassure the girl that everything was still good, "it was just an observation. Here," her long arms wrapped the black jacket around the blonde. Piper slipped her arms into the sleeves, which were slightly too long, and smiled back.

"Thanks," she spoke, sounding a little nervous still. Alex slid her hand down the woman's arm slowly, lacing her fingers between Piper's.

"No problem," the two women continued walking in silence toward Piper's apartment, nudging into each other playfully throughout the walk. Alex couldn't help but feel like a kid again, without a care in the world.

They walked up to the third floor of the Gallant building, Alex following behind the blonde who was pulling her jacket around her slender frame tightly. As they reached Piper's apartment, the raven haired girl couldn't believe what she was thinking. She was feeling slightly depressed that the night was coming to a close, and it kind of scared her. No one had ever made her smile and let loose like she had the last couple of hours, not even Nicky, and especially not without being completely wasted. She wasn't use to this feeling; that was for sure. What she wasn't sure on was how to proceed from here on out.

'_Just don't resort to the normal ways…'_

Piper stopped walking, standing to the side of her door, and Alex stopped in front of her.

"On a scale of one to woo-ed?" Piper laughed quietly at the question, her blue eyes looking up to meet Alex's blue-green ones.

"I'd say it's one hell of a start," the woman teased Alex who laughed in return. "Thank you, Alex. I had a great time." She was smiling, but Piper was also acting nervous again, glancing around as if she was expecting someone to pop out and scare her.

"So did I, Pipes," Alex's eyes fell on the blonde's lips. She wanted to tangle her fingers into the woman's loose curls and feel her lips pressed against her own; and she wanted it badly. Alex traced her fingers down the woman's jaw lightly and tilted her chin to the side a bit, feeling the skin prickle under her touch. Softly, she pressed her lips to Piper's cheek, lingering there for a moment, and forced herself to leave it at that. Standing so closely that she could feel the woman's breath on her skin, she whispered.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

_A/N: It took me longer than I had planned to write this chapter, but I didn't want to rush it, so thank you for bearing with me. Also, thank you all for the wonderful, wonderful reviews! I appreciate every single one and I thank you for your kind words and encouragement from the bottom of my heart. You're all awesome. _

_Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I expect another one to be up by the end of the week and more to come into the weekend when I have a bit more time. Thank you again!_


	7. Thoughts & Not-Well-Thought-Out Plans

**The Internship**

**Chapter 7: **

_Thoughts & Not-Well-Thought-Out Plans_

"Polly, I'm sorry! I've just been really busy lately," Piper flopped back on her bed and ran her hand through her hair that scattered across the comforter. Her lids slowly shut over her blue eyes as she tuned out the bitching she was getting from her best friend.

"_I'll see you tomorrow." _

The young woman touched her cheek where Alex's soft lips had been only a few moments before. Despite only having a glass of wine, Piper Chapman was absolutely intoxicated. The room was spinning, or maybe that was just her mind replaying the night. She had never been as relaxed around someone as she was with Alex. Contrary to her apparent reputation, the woman made Piper feel safe.

"Piper Chapman!" Polly's voice barked through the phone. Piper quickly pulled her attention back to her friend.

"I'm sorry! I just...," Her voice trailed off. She wasn't sure how her best friend would react to hearing about tonight's events. Piper had been interested in women before, but never more than just having fun. Nothing was ever serious.

'_Is this serious?' _

It was only one night for heaven's sake. Could she even call it a date? She wanted to. Yes, it was. Piper had been on a date with Alex Vause.

"You just what?" Piper placed the phone down on her nightstand after turning it on speaker and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, "Oh. My. Gosh. Piper, you bitch!"

"Excuse me?" Piper glared at the phone as if Polly could see her expression. She picked up the phone and carried it with her to the bathroom, where she began washing off her makeup and getting ready for bed.

"I know why you've been so busy. Who is he?!" Rinsing her face and patting it dry with a towel, Piper looked in the mirror for the first time since she'd been home. She was still wearing Alex's jacket. A smile crept up on her as she slowly removed it from her body, surprised that the woman hadn't asked for it back before she left.

"Piper! I totally know you're blushing right now, so spill!" Polly was right, her cheeks were slightly flushed. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and tore herself away from her thoughts once again.

'_This is ridiculous, stop being some lovesick puppy.' _

"Pol, I haven't met anyone," she was such a bad liar, it was really pathetic. She didn't even know if it sounded convincing through a layer of light static. It probably didn't.

"Right, and I'm Heidi fucking Klum," Piper imagined Polly's expression right now. She was probably pacing around a room, one arm across her body as the other one held her phone to her ear. And there was no doubt in her mind that the girl was secretly laughing at her.

'_Bitch.'_

"Look, if you don't wanna tell me about him then that's fine. I get it. You don't wanna jinx it," Polly was playing her guilt trip game, but tonight Piper wasn't going to fall for it. The intern pulled on a large t-shirt and a pair of sleeping shorts before flipping the phone off of speaker and yawning into the receiver.

"Pol, I love you and I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed. I promise to call more," her eyes were growing heavy quickly as the excitement of the night wore down a tiny bit.

"You'd better," the voice on the other end was stern, but then it became a little softer, "I love you, too, Pipes."

"Come visit me, okay?" Piper was looking straight ahead, realizing how much she actually missed the sometimes annoying best friend on the other end of the conversation. They hadn't been apart for more than a week since they were in middle school. Friday marked two weeks for the girls.

"Definitely. Good night, Piper," the blue-eyed blonde pulled the phone away from her ear a bit, "Oh, before I forget, call your mother. She keeps asking if I've talked to you." The phone went dead.

"Fuck."

* * *

The blonde haired intern happily strode into her cube the next morning. The warm sun had woken her up about five minutes before her alarm was supposed to jerk her from her sweet dreams; a smile was already playing on her lips as if it had been drawn on the night before.

She dropped off her phone and clutch at her desk and made her way to her manager's office with Alex's leather jacket was draped over her arm. Returning it would be a good reason to pay a quick visit to her office, not that she really needed a reason. When she was steps from her door, she noticed that it was open today. The change in mood made her stomach do a single flip as she ran her fingers over the jacket once more before leaning against the doorway expecting to see the illustrious Alex Vause typing away at her keyboard. However, the office was empty.

Piper's head tilted to the side a bit before she turned and headed back to her cubical.

"Piper Chapman," a familiar male voice sang her name in a way that made the intern want to hide.

"Good morning, Mr. Daniels," Piper gave the statement her best shot, as well as the smile she forced when she turned to see the man. She couldn't help but imagine a sting on the back of her hand from slapping the holy hell out of him. Matt had blatantly lied to her and had sabotaged Alex's shot at a promotion. He had to go.

"I was going to see if you wanted to see a movie this weekend," his perfect, yet dull eyes glanced at the fabric hanging off of Pipers arm. She just smiled. "But, it looks like you didn't listen to me. You'll regret that, Chapman."

"I may," she nodded a goodbye to the man, turned on her heel and continued her walk back to the cubes. Piper couldn't get sucked into Matt's bullshit and taunting. She was an intern and had no permanent position here. Instead, she let the insults and snarky comments stay in her mental vault.

'_But only in your delusional mind.' _

When she turned the corner, reaching her cubicle, her lips curled into a smile at the black haired woman who was leaning against her desk holding a notebook.

"Hey," she said quietly, suddenly realizing her words were catching in her throat.

"Hey back," Alex was smiling, her fingers tapping against the side of Piper's desk. "I brought your notebook back," she laid it on the desk gently before pushing herself away from the desk smoothly. "And a cup of tea. No sweetener, right?"

Piper raised an eyebrow at Alex curiously, wondering if she really had been paying that much attention to the one time she made tea around her. It was apparent that she had, but it was hard to believe.

"Yeah, that's perfect. Thank you," she smiled and held out Alex's jacket toward her. "I went to your office to return this, but I guess I just missed you." Alex took it, cocking her head to the side and smirking.

"Did you?" her raspy voice was so soft that it was almost lost in the dull roar of the office, but it made a shiver work its way down the intern's spine. Piper didn't answer the play on her words, opting to return the smirk instead.

"So I have more work?"

Alex explained what she wanted Piper to do for the rest of the day. It was definitely intern work, grammar and typo catching on in-house documentation before it was sent out to different companies. At least it would keep her occupied.

"That's pretty much it," Alex finished, leaning over the back of the intern's chair who was now sitting and looking through files on her computer screen. "Just let me know if you need something." Piper felt Alex's hand leave the spot on her right shoulder blade as she walked away. She turned her chair enough that she could see Alex out of the corner of her eye. Almost on cue, her manager turned back around and spoke.

"I almost forgot. Our weekly intern-manager meeting is supposed to be today. I'll email you the time and place."

For some reason, Piper was almost positive that the meeting wouldn't be during regular office hours. Smiling goofily, she turned back to her computer and began her work for the day.

* * *

Alex's arms wrapped around her body, her hands igniting her skin with friction as she made her way home. She hadn't noticed how cold it actually was outside before dropping Piper off. Maybe it had dropped ten degrees or so since then.

'_Ten degrees in five minutes?'_

The woman shook her head, mentally chuckling at the ignorant thought. Of course the temperature hadn't dropped that drastically in such a short about of time. Her mind was just more focused on her surroundings now that the blonde wasn't touching her.

What was going on with her? She denied each thought that burst to the foreground of her mind from that point on; she refused to believe that this was different from anything she'd done in years.

Except it was. Much different.

Alex reached her apartment and placed her key into the lock. Despite trying to make herself think about anything but how she was feeling, Piper's smile flashed in front of her eyes. She entered the apartment, locking the door behind her.

The apartment wasn't much, but it suited her perfectly. The living room was simple: black furniture with small accents of red scattered through the room, bookshelves that were full to the brim lined the walls, and a large stereo system was set up across from the couch where a television would be normally. Coasters were randomly scattered throughout the rooms, as well. She found herself leaving coffee rings from her mugs on everything shortly after furnishing the place.

Alex pulled off her heels, letting her feet free from their bindings, and flopped onto the couch, grabbing a pillow and placing it behind her head before staring up at the ceiling in thought.

She was happy tonight with Piper, genuinely happy. There was no planning, no thought, nothing but relaxed conversation and laughter. She just simply _was_. It felt surreal to say the least. And it scared the living shit out of her.

Alex's phone buzzed on the coffee table. She reached for it, subconsciously hoping it would be from a certain blonde haired girl who stole her jacket.

**From: Nicky**

**KB's tomorrow? I'm feeling an urge to drown in music, booze, and sweaty bodies under strobe lights. **

Alex couldn't help but laugh at her friend's message. She quickly responded.

**Definitely. Thirsty Thursday for all the college girls. You're set. **

The woman moved to put her phone back on the table, but it buzzed in her hand once more.

**From: Nicky**

**You're? Got something to tell me, Vause?**

Alex should've known that Nicky would catch any little hiccup in her life. She hadn't even meant to type 'you're' instead of 'we're'. Not really. It just kind of… happened.

'_Everything with her just kind of happens, apparently.' _

She tossed the phone onto the table and rolled over to face the back of the couch, shutting her eyes and yawning heavily. It was still early to the semi-insomniac, but tonight she felt absolutely drained. Before the woman dozed into a deep sleep, she saw soft lips and blue eyes. She saw Piper.

The screen of Alex's phone lit up and the speakers blared the intro to Coheed and Cambria's "Welcome Home" throughout her apartment the next morning. Her five-ten frame stirred from its sprawled position on her couch, stretching outward before realizing half of her body was actually hanging over the back of the couch. She rubbed her eyes, adjusting them to the light shining through the window.

"What the fuck?" her already raspy voice was gravely as she grabbed at the source of the guitar solo.

"H-Hello?" The woman sat up on her couch, her head hanging sleepily as she looked at the floor through half open lids. Everything was blurry. Alex's mother answered on the other end of the conversation.

'_Where the hell are my glasses?'_

"Hey mom, yeah I'm fine, I just woke up," She turned her head to each side, searching for the black frames before finding them on the floor, slid half way under the couch. She slipped them onto her nose before ruffling up her hair.

"Late night?" her mother asked in the same tone that Alex had: a deadly mixture of sarcasm, humor, and seriousness. Alex, of course, knew how to interpret her mom's many different inflections. This one was somewhat serious.

"Actually," she stalled, thinking of her blonde intern, "No. I actually went to sleep at a normal time. I guess I was just really sleepy."

"Oh yeah?" her mom was curious, which was never good for Alex. "What did you do last night?"

Alex didn't answer, not knowing if she really wanted to tell her mom. On one hand, she knew her mother would be pleased to know that she hadn't gotten drunk or had another meaningless night with some girl from a bar. On the other, she couldn't decide if Piper meant enough to tell her mother about. It had to be serious. Was it?

'_It could be.' _

"Nothing mom," she decided to just leave it open to interpretation, "met up with a friend after work and then came home." The dark haired woman had never been good at lying to her mother. After all, the woman did raise her on her own. And, she was the one she learned pretty much everything from. From the sound of Diane Vause, she didn't believe her daughter in the slightest, but thankfully let it go.

* * *

The dark haired editor was filling up her second cup of coffee when she glanced up at the clock in the office kitchen. The hands told her it was almost ten after eight.

'_Piper's probably here by now.' _

Alex took a sip of her coffee before placing it on the counter and fixing her intern a cup of tea. English breakfast tea to be exact. No sweetener added, if she remembered correctly. Just in case, she grabbed a packet of sugar from a drawer and slipped it into the back pocket of her jeans. The editor tucked Piper's notebook under her arm and grabbed the two cups before heading to the open area in the center of the floor where her intern's cubicle was located.

After avoiding the notebook under her desk, she decided to just skip over the last review that Piper completed. It was better that she didn't know what the blonde had written about the poem that she had randomly written one early morning in the office. Alex had always been more inclined to actually writing instead of reading/ judging other people's interpretations of life, the world, and fantasy stories. It was exactly that small detail that kept her from ever publishing anything. Besides her mom, no one had ever read anything that Alex had written. No one else even knew she picked up a pencil and scribbled words on paper, for that matter.

When she reached the cube where her intern should have been sitting, she realized that she was alone. She went to put the notebook and tea on her desk before she noticed the presence of Piper's phone and clutch by her keyboard. Instead of leaving the items, she sat against the desk and waited for her to return.

"Hey," Piper's eyes met her own seconds before the words were seemingly forced from the blonde's mouth. Her difficulty made Alex smile, knowing she was the reason she sometimes stumbled over herself. She loved it.

After flustering the blonde a bit and giving her some more work to do, she tossed her leather jacket over her shoulder and walked back toward her office. Only two steps from Piper, she remembered two things. One, they had to meet today to discuss manager-intern crap. Those meetings were always absolutely pointless, but a requirement. Two, Nicky wanted her to go to a club with her tonight.

Alex mentally patted herself on the back for her next idea. She was scheming again, but not in her normal 'I don't give a fuck what happens as long as I get my way' manner.

"I almost forgot. Our weekly intern-manager meeting is supposed to be today. I'll email you the time and place." The editor strode off to her office, completely pleased with herself as she sipped her coffee.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful for Alex. She had been swamped with reviews, but they were fairly short and didn't require much effort to complete. After emailing the finished products to Ben, she picked up her phone from the desk and typed out a quick text to Nicky.

**KB's tonight still?**

She placed the phone on her thigh, knowing she'd get a response fairly quickly since her best friend didn't work today. It buzzed a whole half a minute later.

**From: Nicky**

**Oh, you mean YOU'RE in?**

Alex pressed her lips together tightly, glaring at her phone at the response. Nicky Nichols really could be a major bitch. It was probably why they got along so well, to be quite honest.

**Fuck off, I was tired. insert non-existent middle finger emoji here. What time?**

Opening up her email on the computer, she began her email to Piper about their intern-manager meeting. She smirked as she did so, knowing that this would be the most informal meeting that the blonde would ever have. However, hopefully it would be pretty informative to the editor.

**From: Fuzzhead (Fuck you, Nicky)**

**I have to cover a shift tonight, so I'll get off around 11. Come entertain me with your Vause-ness and we'll walk over after. **

The message was sent with an attached picture of Nicky. The woman's hair looked as if she stuck her fingers in light sockets on a daily basis, her tongue was hanging out and she held up her middle finger proudly. The editor was pretty sure the people in the building across the street could hear her laughter.

Sending a quick message back to Nicky, letting her know she'd be there, Alex turned back to her computer and finished up her email to Piper.

**To: PEChapman **

**Piper, **

**Our manager-intern meeting will be held at 119 Vine Street at approximately 11 PM. These meetings are ****mandatory****. **

**Alex Vause**

**Editor, Big Apple Publishing**

The young woman was now _very _pleased with herself for the day. She was able to make her best friend happy by going with her to KB's place tonight, and she was able to trick Piper into meeting her there.

'…_meeting us there. Shit.'_

Alex shut her eyes in frustration. It had completely slipped her mind that making Piper meet her there would also make her have to tell Nicky about the blonde. Except she would never say a word and the woman that she had known for years would already have her pegged.

'_Shit.'_

* * *

_A/N: Posted two chapters tonight. A: because I owe all of you wonderful readers updates. (I love you guys, really.) B: because this chapter was more filler on the characters' other relationships. The next is more Vauseman centered. Woo! Hope you enjoy!_


	8. Old Friends & A Bit of Fire

**The Internship**

**Chapter 8: **

_Old Friends & A Bit of Fire_

If anyone had walked by Piper Chapman's cubicle at this exact moment, they'd probably find the look of confusion on her face extremely comical. The blonde woman was leaning forward in her chair, her elbows on the desk and her forearms crossed over one another with her hands on their opposite shoulders. Her nose was scrunched and her brow was furrowed as she read the email from her manager that she'd received after she returned from lunch.

'_Where in the hell do you have a meeting at 11 PM?'_

Quickly running her fingers over the keyboard, Piper googled the address that was in the email: _The Ivory Dragon_, a nightclub in the Manhattan area of NYC. The blonde intern instantly shook her head smiling. Leaning back in her chair, she couldn't believe that she was being 'tricked' into going to a club with Alex. She knew that her manager was having a big laugh at the whole situation. Piper also knew that Alex expected her to look up the address, which is why she didn't mention anything about the club in the email. It was completely up to her to say something about it, or not.

Piper definitely was going to.

Peaking around the doorway of her manager's office, she saw the dark haired woman leaned back in her chair. The intern silently walked in, putting her plan into action.

"You know, screens are reflective," Alex's voice made Piper's shoulders drop in relaxation and she cursed under her breath. She couldn't even sneak up on her. The woman continued to stare at her computer screen, reading through a rather long email, but Piper saw her smirk in the glare on the monitor.

"So you drag me out to dinner, literally," Piper's voice is playful as she walks to Alex's desk and sits against the corner of it, her hands gripping the top as she does so, "and now you're making our _mandatory_ meeting at a club in Manhattan. What's next?" She's smiling as Alex glances up in her direction.

"Should I really tell you?" Alex's lips are pressed, pulling to the right corner slightly, and her eyes are slightly squinted, challenging the blonde.

"A dismissal of an answer suggests that you have nothing else planned," Piper retorted as she stared down the beautiful woman, "Are you really running out of material, Miss Vause?" Alex huffed.

"I'm about as creative and charming as they come, Chapman," the use of her last name made Piper chuckle a bit, "you should feel privileged to have witnessed even the slightest bit of my _material_. I can certainly choose someone else to use it on, if you'd like?"

'_Shit. Does she always have to win?'_

Piper glared at the woman, who was now forcing a smile back from her smirking expression. She stood upright, being silent for a moment.

"Is that the same line you used to try to lure Daniels in? No wonder it didn't work." Piper laughed after she saw Alex physically shudder at her words. The manager picked up a pen and chucked it at her, laughing softly. "Hey now, don't be sore about it."

Alex rolled her eyes, looking up at Piper who was standing a foot from her at most.

"Don't be late tonight," she said sternly. "If Ben finds out you missed an all-important meeting, you may not have a job come Friday morning." Alex jokingly threatened the intern. Piper acted scared, standing up straighter and placing her hands directly at her sides.

"I'll be there, ma'am," she saluted playfully, getting a laugh from her manager once again.

"Good. Now, as far as creativity in taking you out goes, I could easily throw you into the trunk of a car and force you to go to the movies with me or something. However, I feel that's more fifth date material," Piper let out a laugh before turning to leave Alex's office.

"See you tonight, Al," Piper tossed the words over her shoulder, met with a reciprocation.

"Looking forward to it, kid."

* * *

The young blonde woman walked into her apartment around 6 PM. She had stayed at work a little later than usual today since she didn't really have anything to do between leaving work and going out to meet Alex. She probably would've stayed longer if her phone hadn't began to ring in five minute intervals starting at 5:30.

"I already told you I'm fine, mom," she shut the door behind her, tossing her keys onto the table in the front hallway. Her phone was glued to her ear as she plopped down on the couch and kicked her shoes off.

"Darling, don't get hasty with me. I haven't heard from you in days," her mother's voice made Piper want to make static noises and pretend she was losing service. Or stab herself in the eye with an ice pick. Either would do.

"I've just been busy. I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to call," she defended herself, knowing full and well that she had time to call. She just didn't want to. She left home to get away from all the verbal degradation she received from her mother for not being as wonderful as her older brother, and for everything else she had done wrong in her life. Talking on the phone was just as annoying.

"What in God's name have you been doing, dear? You haven't been partying have you? You know how poorly you handle alcohol. What with the cab incident-,"

"No!" Piper cut her off, now angry that her mother even knew about the Larry thing, let alone brought it up, "Jesus, mom. No I haven't been partying. I went out with some people from my office my first day. The other nights have been pretty…," she thought of last night, knowing she wouldn't be telling Carol anything about that for quite some time, "boring."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're keeping yourself together," Piper rubbed her forehead with her thumb and index finger, lowering her head and closing her eyes, frustrated with her mother.

"Yep, I'm doing great. I love it here," she wanted to rub it in her mom's face that she was no longer around to try and mold her into something different than herself. It always drove her crazy. Yes, she was a wasp-y individual; there had been no way around that. But, she was not her mother. Nor her mother's child, attitude wise. Thank God.

"Look, I gotta go. I love you. Tell dad I said hi," she hurried the phone call up, being sure to cut her mom off as she tried to get started on a new topic. Finally hitting the sleep button on the top of her phone, she got up from her seat and went to search through her wardrobe for something to wear tonight.

* * *

"Wow, that band is fucking awful," Alex slid onto a stool at Rips. Nicky slid a beer down to a regular customer at the other end of the bar as she laughed.

"Did you really expect much from a bunch of old guys that call themselves 'Side Boob'?" Nicky's smirk and raised eyebrows made Alex laugh. She noticed that Nicky was dressed for the night already. Her hair was no longer its fuzzy mess, but smoothed into some sort of submission and left down in waves. She was wearing a black, partially see through top that ended at her upper-mid thigh, and black leggings.

"Good point," Alex tapped the bar and Nicky slid her a shot of tequila before pouring herself one. They shot them back at the same time and Nicky went back to pouring drinks. "So, why did you want to go out so badly tonight?"

Nicky shrugged, finishing filling all the drink orders for the moment and leaning on her elbows against the bar. She was much shorter than Alex, making her look down at her slightly as they spoke even while she was sitting.

"What can I say? I have a thing for hot girls dancing all over each other, and then all over me," she said it so simply that it made Alex let out a short laugh. The dark haired woman couldn't disagree with her friend's logic. "Plus, you owe me, so we should be getting some VIP treatment tonight, Vause."

"I owe you?" Alex asked curiously.

"Big time. That girl from last week has been asking about you," Alex's eyes widened a bit. Nicky nodded at her, "Yeah, she left her number in case you lost it or something. Said to tell you to call her up." Nicky picked up an old receipt from beside the register and held it up. Alex shook her head.

"Pass. Trash it," Nicky's lips curled into a smile as she rolled up the paper and tossed it into the garbage as if it were a basketball. She missed.

"And that, ladies and gents, is why I work in this dumb," she joked as a couple of people sarcastically clapped at her miss. Alex chuckled.

"So, what was wrong with her? She had great tits," Nicky turned her attention back to Alex, who smiled at her comment.

"Yeah, she did," Alex agreed, though she really didn't remember anything about the woman. She hadn't cared enough to notice anything besides how easily she got the girl to go home with her. "Nothing was wrong with her, I guess. You know I don't do relationships."

Alex pushed her shot glass towards Nicky, who filled it once again. She threw back the shot expertly, feeling this one burn all the way down her throat. The young woman welcomed the dull scorching feeling, but she was limiting herself tonight. She didn't want to be belligerent before she saw Piper. Or after.

'_Who knows what would happen if I was drunk with her.' _

She wanted to know, to be completely honest. But, she also wanted to remember everything that happened while she was with the woman. She thought back to the blonde's visit to her office this afternoon and smiled at her poor attempt to sneak up on her.

"Vause, what're you so happy looking about?" Nicky's harsh voice pulled her back into the bar. She was counting the money in the register. Alex looked at her phone.

"Happy that we're finally getting the hell outta here," she stood up and tossed Nicky some cash for her drinks. The girl put it in the register and tossed a rag to clean the bar with toward the guy that was taking her place.

"Later, Greg!" Nicky yelled behind them as they left Rips and waved down a cab. Alex checked her phone for the time. 10:42.

'_Only 18 minutes.'_

'_God, get it together…'_

* * *

The _Ivory Dragon_ was swamped with people both inside and out when Alex and Nicky's cab pulled up to the door. The line was wrapped around the building and three bouncers were watching the entrance. No one got in without being invited in one way or another.

"No shit," Alex heard a familiar voice as she stepped out of the cab. Looking to her right, she smiled as she saw the tan man with black hair smoking a cigarette on the steps of the club. "Alex Vause and her right hand Nicky." Alex slid her hands into her leather jacket pockets and strode over to the man.

"Working my life away and trying to keep this one out of trouble," she gestured to Nicky who was standing beside her.

"Sounds like two full time jobs," the man joked at Nicky, who nodded in agreement.

"You know it," Alex smirked as her friends spoke. She looked around the crowd for the tall blonde. "What've you been up to, Fahri?"

"Keeping this place up and running while Kubra's gone," Alex looked at the man questioningly, "he's in Bali for the month. Business." Alex lifted her chin, signaling that she understood. Kubra Balik owned the Ivory Dragon, and formerly employed Alex. "Well, come on." Fahri dropped the butt of his cig on the ground and smashed it into the ground with the toe of his shiny shoes. He straightened his suit and started to lead the two girls into the bar.

Alex's eyes caught a glimpse of familiar blonde hair getting out of a cab. She let Fahri lead Nicky in and cut away from the two, heading back toward the large line of people on the sidewalk.

"Looks like the cab therapy is working," she spoke over the crowd to Piper, who was looking around like a lost child until she heard her voice. Alex saw a smile on the blonde's lips when their eyes met. She adjusted her glasses, waiting for Piper to make her way towards her.

"I suppose it is," Piper said playfully as she reached Alex. "Is our meeting inside, or in a back alley? Or maybe you're going to toss me in a trunk and drive me somewhere?"

Alex chuckled, placing her hand on the small of Piper's back as they walked up to the entrance.

"I told you that was fifth date material," she whispered in her ear, "this is definitely only the second. Don't get ahead of yourself." Piper's laugh made her body tremor.

When they reached the bouncers, one of them let both women pass with no questions asked. Alex felt Piper's eyes on her curiously as she looked to the loft where the VIP section was located. She spotted Nicky looking over the railing, obviously spotting them according to her dropped jaw.

"Remember that bar tending job I told you about?" Alex led Piper through the crowd and up the right side stairs. "This is where I worked."

The building itself was a little aged as far as architecture went. It was somewhat gothic and absolutely gorgeous according to Alex's tastes. A long bar was located on both the left and right sides of the ground floor, a shorter one on each side of the loft. There was little to no furniture on the ground floor, besides the DJ set up between the two slightly curved stair cases. Multicolored strobe lights were the only source of light in the entire building. The lights danced and pounded to the music expertly, drawing everyone in to the intense environment.

"And you traded this for an office building?" Piper spoke in her ear, tickling it with her breath.

"I traded this for money and the health of my ears," Alex and Piper laughed as they reached the marked off area in the center of the loft. Nicky stood with her arms crossed over her chest, eying Alex as if she had just figured out something really astonishing about the universe. Maybe she had.

"Piper, this is Nicky," she looked between the two of them as she introduced them.

"How's it going, blondie?" Nicky said in her normal, harsh sounding voice. "Work everything out with the drunk douche lord the other night?" Alex glared at Nicky as she brought up Larry.

"Oh yeah, that's definitely been taken care of," Piper went along with it, surprising Nicky with her non-caring attitude about the comment. She smiled toward Alex and nodded slightly as if to give some sort of semi-approval of the woman.

"Moving on," Alex flicked her eyes over from Nicky to Fahri, "This is Fahri, he's the VP of the place, to put it simply." She explained to Piper who shook Fahri's outstretched hand. The man was also eyeing Alex strangely. She had never introduced anyone to either of them, so she guessed it really was strange.

"Nice to meet you, Fahri," Piper said politely. Fahri nodded and told her likewise before he excused himself to the bar.

"Alright, well I'm going down to the floor," Nicky started to walk toward the stairs before Alex grabbed her wrist gently.

"Put whatever on my tab. You're right, I do owe you," Alex told her best friend who smiled widely before going downstairs, her hair bouncing with each step. The dark haired woman didn't want to know what it was going to cost her, but she wanted Nicky to have a good time.

'_And hopefully not want to talk about this tomorrow.'_

Piper walked over to the edge of the loft and leaned over a bit, looking down at all the people below. Alex stood behind her for a moment, watching. Wondering what in the hell she was doing bringing Piper here.

'_You're sharing your life. It's normal.' _

She took a few steps toward the blonde before Piper turned around, causing their faces to be about an inch apart. Piper leaned into the railing, looking over to the bar and then glancing up at Alex.

"Do you want to get a drink?" Alex asked, putting her palm on the rail to the right of Piper and leaning on it. Piper looked directly at her with her soft blue eyes. Alex felt the woman's fingers lightly graze her cheek as the woman pushed a strand of her hair back. Piper must've gotten a little embarrassed after doing so, because she dropped her gaze to the floor.

In response, Alex lightly pushed the woman's chin back up with the side of her index finger, making her look at her again. They both smiled at each other before Alex tilted her head, gesturing toward the bar. Piper slid her hand into Alex's as they walked over and took a seat.

"I've already started with tequila," Alex told Piper as they waited for the bar tender, "Mixing my liquors really screws me up, but you can get whatever you'd like."

"How far ahead are you?" Piper questioned, to which Alex held up three fingers. The bar tender made his way to them and the blonde spoke up first, "Can I get two doubles of your best tequila?" Alex raised an eyebrow at Piper, wondering how much alcohol her small frame could actually handle. Piper glanced at her, her smile looking somewhat daring. "Actually make it four."

The bartender lined up four double shot glasses on the bar and poured straight across, filling each of them with the gold tinted liquid.

"Aren't we the little college partier?" Alex teased, watching as Piper threw back two of the shots quickly. Piper just chuckled and shrugged.

"We'll see how this goes," the blonde said while smiling, clearly amused with herself. She picked up one of the shots and placed it in front of Alex, who placed her fingers around the glass and looked at the blonde. Piper held hers up slightly higher and Alex did the same before they both brought the glasses to their lips and threw their heads back. The glasses clanked back onto the bar and Alex told the bar tender to put them on her tab before she stood and took the blonde by her hand.

"Come on," she leaned in close to her ear and spoke before she led the girl down to the ground floor and into the crowd of people. The floor below them shook as the bass pounded and music drowned out all the other noises in the building.

They were in the center of the floor, people bumping into them from all directions, and yet Alex only saw her. Her blonde hair bounced around as they danced. Piper's short crimson red dress pulled Alex's eyes from the woman's right shoulder which was the only one covered by fabric and down to her thighs were the dress stopped mid-thigh. It clung to her, fitting her perfectly, showing her off perfectly.

The alcohol in both Piper and Alex's systems had started to affect them both after about an hour and two double shots each later. Piper was becoming less and less conservative with her dancing; Alex less so with her hands, which were currently on Piper's hips, pulling her closer. Alex could feel Piper's hot breath on her lips as she got lost in her completely. It was getting harder and harder for the woman to keep from dragging Piper off to a room in the back of the building.

Piper's hands covered Alex's, pulling them around her so there was absolutely no empty space between them. The blonde put her arms around the black haired woman's neck, her fingernails dragging against the back of her neck through her hair made her feel like she was melting.

Alex couldn't take it anymore. She had to be in control, had to know that Piper was feeling the same as she was. She ran her hands up Piper's sides before turning her body slightly and moving so that she was standing behind her. Piper's body was pressed into Alex's, her blue eyes meeting the blue-green ones over her shoulder. Alex's hands ran around the woman's waist and then diverged, her right one skimming its way down Piper's right thigh and her left pushing Piper's hair to the side before resting on her side.

Alex heard a deep groan from Piper's throat as she leaned her head down a bit and pressed her lips softly to the woman's neck. When Alex opened her eyes after this, she noticed the world had a bit of a tilt to it. She slid her hand back up the blonde's thigh, letting her fingers catch bottom of the woman's dress and pull it up slightly before she leaned into Piper's ear.

"We should probably sit down," she kissed the woman behind her ear as she nodded in agreement. Alex led her up the stairs, being careful not to misstep now that she was starting to feel her alcohol.

The pair plopped into a blue couch in the mostly empty VIP section. Alex let Piper lean into her side and rest her head on her shoulder. When she glanced at the woman, her eyes were shut tightly.

"Spinning?" Alex asked her, running her hand over the woman's arm that was next to her thigh.

"Mhm," Piper opened her eyes slowly, a smile forming on her lips as she looked at Alex.

"What?" Alex questioned the woman in a soft voice as she searched her face, noticing a change in the way she was looking at her. Instead of it being the normal, happy, Piper look. She was looking for something in Alex too.

"I don't know," Piper finally spoke, "there's just something about you." Alex continued looking at the girl, wanting to ask what it was, but not sure if she wanted to know the answer regardless of what it was.

"What am I to you, Piper?" Alex finally gave in, her judgment losing to her impulsive and emotional side tonight. The blonde sat up straight, turning her entire body to face her. A silence fell between them for a moment, but neither of them needed to speak to know what the other was thinking. It was just like that between them.

"Inevitable," Piper's soft voice and blue eye's locking with Alex's pushed her over the edge.

'_Inevitable.' _

That was the word Alex had needed to describe Piper being in her life. It made so much sense. No one had ever just fallen into her life like this woman had and stirred it up so much in such a short amount of time. The fact that it had tumbled from Piper's lips made it even more perfect, because that mean that nothing was one sided. They were both falling into this together.

Alex's hand slid around Piper's neck lightly, her thumb stroking the woman's cheek and their eyes never wavered. Their faces inched closer together slowly and Alex felt Piper's hand on her shoulder, pulling them closer together. The woman's lids slid shut and she felt Piper's breath on her lips once again, wanting, needing to feel more this time.

"Vause!" Alex exhaled in frustration and swore under her breath, her forehead meeting Piper's before they both sat back up. Nicky was running up the stairs when she turned to see where the horribly timed interruption had originated from.

'_Of fucking course.'_

"What Nicky?" she yelled sharply, hoping the bite of her voice injured her friend.

"You seen Fahri? We have a bit of an issue down here," Nicky was eyeing her and Piper, but not really interested in anything besides whatever emergency was going on downstairs.

"No, what's going on?" Alex felt Piper's head relax against her shoulder again and she slid her arm around the somewhat drunk woman.

"Just a little fire. And by little I mean a new bartender spilled some shit and then tried to light a flaming shot without wiping down the bar. So it's kinda in flames."

"Shit." Alex pulled out her phone and dialed Fahri, not wanting to move from her spot. Not even for a fire.

* * *

_A/N: And that concludes chapter 8. I hope you guys enjoy it. I'm posting it now, but it may be updated shortly when I proof read after some sleep. As always, thank you so much for reading and sticking with it. It's going to be a long one with what I'm planning, so it'll probably keep its slow pace. I love all of the reviews (Shout out to Estilla's for being the most interesting lol) so feel free to tell me what you think. _


	9. White Lies & A Bet

**The Internship**

**Chapter 9: **

_White Lies & A Bet_

Darkness. That was all that she felt surrounding her. Nothing register to the blonde's now semi-numb body besides a sporadic change in pressure on her arms and feet every so often. Echoes of voices that seemed like nothing more than far off memories swam into her ear and prodded her brain to wake up.

'_Fuck, Nicky. Careful.'_

That one was raspy, unique, and seemingly imprinted on her brain. The next was less familiar, but enough so that at least Piper knew who was around her for the time being.

'_I'm doin' my best here, Sasquatch. We're not exactly on the same level, ya' know.'_

'_That doesn't give you an excuse to almost slam her head into the side of the wall. Plus, I saw you gawking.' _

'_Dude, you can't blame me! Didn't you see that girl? Like holy shit.'_

A jingle of keys and the sound of a door knob turning was the next sound that the woman could make out. She forced her eyelids to split slightly at the sound, wanting to know what was going on around her. The last thing that Piper could remember was sitting on the couch with Alex, her neck and cheek burning sweetly under the woman's touch. She remembered leaning forward, mentally begging to finally feel the dark haired woman's lips on her own.

"Jesus, Pipes," she heard Alex say in a soft grunt. She felt the pressure on her arms leave her and instantly her back was cooled by what she was imagining to be a white fluffy cloud. It felt heavenly, soothing, and she relaxed even though her vision was still nothing but a fading blur.

The darkness overcame Piper Chapman. As the rest of her body was met with the same cool sensation, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

At the sound of a creaking door, Piper's body began to twitch and awaken. Her eyes split only enough to feel the burn of light originating from outside the open doorway. The feeling caused her blue orbs to instantly retreat behind her lids once more.

Another sound, this one coming from fairly close to her head, caught her attention. Though she didn't make a move to inspect the noise, Piper tried to focus enough to listen more closely for more.

The door creaked once more and the latch clicked into place. Shortly, those noises were followed by much more interesting ones: voices.

"I'm not sure what you want me to say, Nicky," Alex's voice carried quite heavily, even through the closed door. Piper could see Alex saying those words in her mind and visualized her adjusting her glasses before she spoke.

"Words are usually a good place to start," Piper couldn't hear Alex's best friend as well as she heard Alex. She forced her body to inch closer to the edge of the bed. "Come on, Vause, you can take it slow if you need to. Say it with me, I-," Nicky was drawing out her words like someone teaching a young child to read, "Li—ke-,"

"Fuck off, Nichols," the words coming from Alex held no hostility, if anything maybe just a tinge of annoyance.

"Hey, I'm just-," Piper could no longer make out anything that either woman was saying.

'_Shit.'_

The blonde forced open her eyes. The only way that she was able to determine they were actually open was thanks to the light pushing its way underneath the bedroom door.

A groan caught in Piper's throat as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and pushed up with her arms. Instantly, a sharp stabbing pain coursed through her right ankle. She bit her lip to keep from yelling.

"Are you gonna say somethin' or do I need to beat it out of ya? C'mon, Al. I know how you overthink shit. You need to talk about it," Nicky's tone went from playful to serious fairly quickly with her longtime friend.

"Piper is different," Alex finally said after a moment of silence passed between the two women. She sounded slightly confused, as she let the words slip out.

"Now we're getting somewhere. Why is she different?"

"I don't know," her voice grew softer and the lapse in dialogue made Piper take another step toward the door. As soon as she shifted her weight onto her right side, Piper knew she had made a grave mistake.

"Oh fuck," the words stumbled out of her mouth as she stumbled into the door, causing a very audible commotion. She slid down the door and shifted over to the wall beside it before reaching down to massage her ankle.

"Piper?" the door beside the young woman swung open and smashed into her side. "What the hell?" Alex Vause was now looking down at her defeated frame.

"Okay, I give in," Piper said as she looked up at the dark blob that was speaking in Alex's raspy voice, "Door 1, Piper 0."

A chuckle from the blob made Piper's lips pull into a smile, despite the ache in her ankle.

"Doors are beating you by more than just one point, kid," Alex knelt down to Piper's level, and, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, she finally saw the woman's face again. It was framed by her dark, flowy, slightly messy hair, and perfectly accented by the thick rimmed, black glasses that were perfectly in place on her nose. "What were you doing?"

"I," Piper paused, but the gears in her head quickly started functioning again, "was thirsty," Alex's eyebrow raised a bit and her signature smirk appeared.

"I already brought you water," Alex was eyeing Piper, but her gaze softened quickly, "Come on. Back to bed, kid," Piper put her arm around Alex's shoulders and scooted herself up off the floor with the woman's help. She fell onto the bed, as soon as she was close enough to insure that she would make it.

"Thanks, Alex," Piper whispered. Alex glanced over her shoulder strangely before turning back to the blonde and leaning over her.

"Anytime, kid," Piper's cheek tingled as Alex's finger pushed her hair off her face and around to the back of her neck gently. A sweet smile crossed Piper's gaze once more before the room grew dark again. Piper's mind followed in suit shortly after.

* * *

The five-foot ten form that was Alex Vause groaned as she was pulled from an unexpectedly deep sleep by a strange, up-beat chime.

She blinked her eyes a few times, meeting the ceiling of her living room with her gaze before she stretched out her arms and rolled onto her side. A loud thud made the woman groan once more, realizing that she had fallen asleep with a book on her chest.

Annoyed by the steady increase in the volume of the chiming noise, Alex stumbled up and towards the kitchen to find the culprit. Piper's phone was vibrating obnoxiously while also causing her head to throb from the alarm. The dark haired woman dismissed the alarm with the slide of her finger across the screen and returned back to her couch.

Thankfully, Alex was accustomed to her own apartment well enough that she could maneuver without the use of her glasses, since they seemed to be missing. Alex looked down at the book that had fallen off of her chest before picking it up and placing it on the coffee table. She had been rereading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. She had started it Tuesday, thinking it would help her clear her mind a bit. She was wrong. Glancing back down toward the floor, Alex spotted her glasses, which were slid half way under the edge of the couch. She bent down and retrieved them, slipping them on and yawing directly after.

It was going to be a long day.

The door to Alex's bed room creaked a refusal to move, with which she empathized, as she slipped into the bed room where the blonde intern slept quietly.

The young woman hadn't moved since Alex had tucked her back into bed some four hours ago. The only indication that she was even alive was the steady, slow rise and fall of the sheet that was draped over her chest. The blonde's body was curled slightly, under the sheet and around a pillow that she also had her arm wrapped around. Alex couldn't help but envy that pillow.

'_Fuck, I'm a mess.'_

Deciding against waking the sleeping intern, Alex slipped back out of the room, leaving the door open to avoid the risk of making any more noise. She found her phone on the end table by the couch and dialed Ben.

"Good morning, Alex," his cheerfulness this early in the morning made her want to wretch. He knew that she was far from a morning person, but he enjoyed annoying her with it anytime the chance presented itself.

"Hey," she said flatly, hearing a chuckle from the man, "I just thought I'd let you know that I'm taking Piper to a few of the other companies we consult with today," the young professional was being vague on purpose.

"Huh, not a bad idea, Vause," he responded, completely buying into her bullshit as she knew he would.

"It was actually something Piper brought up at our meeting yesterday," she falsely elaborated while walking toward the kitchen, "She's a smart kid. You should keep her resume around; give her a shot when she has her degree."

"I'll keep that in mind. I'll also assume that neither of you will be in the office today. See you at Rips tonight?" Fridays at the usual bar had been Alex's go-to activity to begin her weekend for quite some time now. It was the perfect mixture of alcohol, women, and people to fuck with, which was, in a sense, everything that the woman could ask for.

"Probably," Another lie. She wasn't going out tonight. No, she needed to figure out her current situation with the blonde intern, not complicate it further with something completely meaningless. "See you later," she ended the call before hearing Ben's response.

Alex sat the phone on the kitchen table and began making a pot of coffee, along with her usual bowl of cereal. She reached for a bowl from the cabinet and paused, her eyes focusing on nothing in particular as an idea popped into her mind.

"I wonder if we have any eggs...,"

* * *

Alex walked around her kitchen. From the outside, it seemed as though she was mindlessly making breakfast, quite possibly at peace with everything in her life. It was, in fact, quite the opposite.

There was something different about the tall, dark haired, career driven woman. Here she was, domestically making breakfast for herself and her hung over, still sleeping… something. Another question that would go unanswered for Alex, what was Piper?

There had yet to be any talk of feelings, or any talk of anything really. They had just been going back and forth, one would pull and the other would push; and so the cycle had continued since their meeting. Piper Chapman certainly wasn't a weak minded young woman. Alex had no problem flustering the girl and she quite prided herself for it, but she did have a fairly difficult time predicting the blonde's next move. She wasn't one that could just be stuck in a box and labeled, she was quite the enigma: sometimes fiery, sometimes shy, and sometimes absolutely fucking adorable. And other times-.

"FUCK!" Alex heard the loud yell come from her bedroom. It was followed by heavy footsteps clomping around her apartment like a beast let out of a tiny cage. "Alex, why didn't you wake me?!"

"Well, good morning to you, too," Alex smirked as she fought back a laugh while taking in the sight before her. Piper was breathing heavily as she looked wildly in all directions, clearly searching for something. Her hair was matted on one side of her head, while it was wild, free, and sticking up in ways hair shouldn't be able to stick without some sort of product on it. Her dress was twisted around her body in a way that looked painfully uncomfortable.

"Where's my phone? I have to call-," Piper's eyes grew wide. "Alex! Why are you here and not at work where I have to call you and tell you I'm late?"

"Piper, I-," the blonde cut her off, making Alex glare at her in response.

"Shit! Shit! I'm going to get fired, shit!"

"Pi-," she was cut off once more; Alex crossed her arms over her chest.

"I need a shower," the girl was frantic, and Alex decided it was about time to calm her down, "and clothes. Shi-,"

"Shut the fuck up for a second, kid!" Alex's raspy voice raised, clearly scaring Piper into a quiet stupor, at least for now. "Good, you're not going to work today-,"

"But-," Shit, this girl didn't know when to stop talking.

"Piper," Alex cut her off, pulling out a chair from the small wooden table in the more open area of the tiny kitchen. "Sit down, shut up, and eat the French toast."

"What about-,"

"French toast!" Alex commanded. Piper stood there, one hand on her hip while the other was pressed to her forehead.

"But, why-,"

That was the last straw. Alex walked around the stubborn woman and pushed her by her shoulders to the table. Once she finally got the blonde in the seat in front of a plate of French toast, she fixed her a cup of tea and placed it on the table.

"Good girl," she praised Piper for remaining seated as she took her own seat across from the blonde. "Now, are you going to be quiet while I explain?"

Piper took a bite of the warm, fluffy, syrup drenched toast and Alex grinned when she heard a deep, pleased groan exit the woman's full mouth. She nodded slowly as she cut into her next bite.

"You're at work," she nodded at Piper with her eyebrows raised, indicating that the woman should agree. "I called this morning and told Ben that we would be touring other companies in the area that we work closely with."

Some unintelligible statement came from Piper in return. Alex tilted her head to the side slightly, wanting to judge the woman hard core for trying to speak with her mouth full.

"Sorry," she swallowed finally, "Where are we going?"

"There are no companies around here that we work with," Alex explained, her expression unamused as she sipped at her cup of coffee from earlier that morning. "But, _I _know that Ben _doesn't _know that." The blonde's eyes squinted a bit, locked with Alex's eyes for a silent moment.

"You're fucking brilliant," Alex just smiled.

"I know."

* * *

Alex's fingers expertly tapped key after key on her laptop as she lay across the couch, her glasses pushed up into her hair and her ankles crossed over one another. Although she didn't go into the office today, she needed to get some work done. It was almost an obsessive compulsive action from her to work as much as possible, finding some sort of mind-calming peace out of drowning herself in a problem that didn't involve her social life directly.

After breakfast, Piper had gone to shower and Alex had given her permission to go through her room and find whatever clothes she thought would fit. They would be somewhat big on the woman, since Alex was a bit taller than she and had a bigger frame, but at least she would get out of the dress she wore the night before.

'_Inevitable.' _

The word crawled into her brain like a pest, squeezing in even when she thought she was able to squash it with work dominating the forefront of her mind. Nothing took the blonde haired woman out of her thoughts for very long, it seemed, if at all.

Alex shut her laptop off and carried it with her to her bedroom. The water had cut off some twenty minutes ago, so the editor assumed that Piper would be dressed by now. The door to her room was only cracked; she pushed it open with her shoulder.

It seemed that Piper had found a small pair of sleeping shorts and a tank top to wear. The tank was gray, plain in the front and designed in the back so that most of her skin was bare; the shorts were pale blue in color and came no further than a third of the way down the blonde's thigh.

Alex felt herself staring, gawking even, at the woman whose hips were swaying and rolling rhythmically to a song playing through the speakers on her phone as she folded up the red dress from the night before and put it on the now made up bed. Alex's senses were ignited, a burn traveling through her body and finally settling into a red hot flame in the pit of her stomach.

"Wherever you go, whatever you do, you know I will follow you down," Piper quietly sang the words as her eyes glanced up toward Alex. The dark haired woman swore she could feel the blue eyes skating up her body slowly before they finally were focused on her face. Piper was biting her lower lip, her eyes lowered and seductive as ever.

'_Damn you.' _

"Thanks for letting me stay here last night," Alex wanted to throw the words back into the girl's face, knowing that she knew what she was doing to the dark haired woman right now. Instead, she took a deep breath and placed her laptop on the nightstand.

"Anytime, kid," she said simply, before walking to the kitchen and gulping down a glass of ice water, tricking herself into believing that it would help.

"You know, we didn't really talk about anything at our meeting last night," Piper was now standing just inside the kitchen doorway, her arms crossed over her thin stomach.

"Is there something you wanted to discuss?" Alex calmed herself down and gave the blonde a false concerned look, "Complaints about your work environment, maybe?" Piper grinned.

"Besides the large, annoying prick that keeps warning me about my manager, _and_ my manager bruising me with doors," a smirk pulled at the corner of her lips, "No, I don't have any complaints."

"For the record," Alex spoke in a serious tone, "_you_ were in _my_ way." Alex watched as the laughing Piper pulled out the chair she had been sitting in earlier and took a seat. She didn't follow, resolving to stay across the kitchen.

"Oh, but of course," the blonde rolled her eyes, "I want to discuss you."

Alex Vause wasn't one to discuss herself. Hell, she didn't like thinking about herself on her own. Her childhood hadn't exactly been a happy one, her teenage years were even worse. Beyond that, she had made her fair share of mistakes on her life's road so far. Those were her burdens to bare, however, and that wasn't about to change anytime soon.

"Well, ask away," she decided to humor the girl, finding her feet moving toward the table of their own free will and she sat across from Piper once more. If it became too personal, she could always deflect.

"Okay," Piper paused for a moment and Alex could tell she was thinking. She must not have thought Alex was going to give in to her interrogation so quickly. "You and Nicky, did you ever…?"

"Did I ever fuck Nicky?" Alex's words were cut off by laughter. She shook her head viciously, "No, I mean, not that I remember. We've done a lot of fucked up shit over the years," she shrugged, realizing that she really didn't know the truth to that question. They had woken up around each other after many drunken nights together, but neither ever remembered anything happening. "I guess it could've happened, but if it did it was while we were both heavily intoxicated."

A look of relief seemed to cross Piper's face, which made Alex laugh once again.

"Okay," Piper had her thinking face on again, "What the fuck happened to my ankle last night?"

"I honestly have no idea, kid. Wish I did. One minute, I'm downstairs cussing Fahri for not picking up his fucking phone and the next Nicky is helping you hobble down the stairs. I thought you were passed out still at the time." Alex explained everything she knew. Thankfully, by the time Nicky and Piper had reached her, Fahri had taken over the chaotic situation and they took their leave. "My turn."

* * *

"I can't believe you've never heard of Joan Jett. God, you are WASP-y," Alex laughed as she took in Piper's faux-hurt expression. The two had moved to the living room about an hour into Piper's questioning that turned into a conversation about pretty much anything and everything.

"Well, excuse me if I was a sheltered child," the blonde pouted. She was stretched out on the couch, her legs laying over Alex's lap where the black haired woman had placed them after they had become restless in their crunched up position. Alex's forearms rested upon them as she looked down toward Piper.

"I love rock and roll," Alex sang the lyrics in her raspy voice. She shook her head, chuckling, "that doesn't ring any bells?" The blonde just stared at her blankly.

"I was only allowed to listen to the music that my mom approved of," Piper threw her head back and pulled her hair into a ponytail over the edge of the couch. "I guess Joan wasn't on her list."

Alex glanced over to the clock on the wall, noticing that it was almost time for the office to close. She hadn't planned on going out with her colleagues tonight, but she would definitely be going if Piper wanted to go.

"So, Ben, Jerry, and a few other people are heading to Rips about now," she didn't have to finish her sentence, Piper already knew where it was heading. The woman popped up off the couch, clearly feeling much better after last night's fiasco, and held out her hand to Alex. The editor took it quickly, a familiar and now wonderful feeling of warmth shot through her palm as she did so. The two were on their way out the door when Piper's phone rang.

Alex held the door open for her as she looked at the screen. "Polly?" She sounded confused. Alex remained silent as they walked down the hallway to the elevator.

"Pol, what's-, what do you mean where am I?" Alex didn't want to pry, but she glanced at Piper long enough to conclude that she seemed both shocked and confused.

"When did you get here?!" Piper's eyes cut to Alex and she mouthed 'Fuck'. Alex stopped walking, causing Piper to stop and finish her phone call under Alex's concerned gaze. "Well I'm about to go out for drinks with my…," Piper was now looking directly at Alex, "manager," she finally decided, "and co-workers," Alex leaned her back against the wall and was surprised to watch Piper take a step toward her, closing their gap as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine, no stay there. I'll be there soon."

"Everything okay?" Alex asked when Piper pulled the phone away from her ear.

"Polly is at my apartment," her voice was filled with annoyance at the situation. "I'm sorry, but do you care to drop me off there?" Alex wanted to frown, but didn't and simply nodded, taking the girls hand and leading her to the open elevator.

"Sure, kid."

* * *

"Vause! Thought you weren't gonna show," Ben's voice carried through Rips over both the music and conversations of the many people using alcohol to blow off steam after a hard week's work.

Alex had dropped Piper off a little over an hour prior to her showing up at Rips. She wasn't really feeling the scene at all tonight, but knew that if she didn't show up to her usual ritual there would be more questions for her to deal with later.

"I was just finishing up some work," the editor lied to her boss for the third or fourth time today, she had honestly lost count at this point. He nodded, taking a long pull from his bottle. Alex took a seat around the booth with the rest of the people from her office.

"Where's the kid?" Jerry asked from across the table. Alex pretended not to know.

"Said she already had plans."

"Probably with Daniels again, I saw them talking yesterday," Alex kept her face as indifferent as stone, not wanting to give off any sense of any emotion toward the intern besides a friendly work relationship.

"It's a possibility," she agreed, the words tasting bitter on her tongue.

"Fuck, Daniels already got to her?" a man who was so unimportant around the office that Alex didn't know his name spoke up next. "She's a pretty girl, I was going to ask her to grab coffee with me sometime." Alex wanted to glare at him.

"I don't think Piper's your type," the words slipped out without her intending for them to leave the confinement of her mind. Curious eyes now stared at her from all directions.

'_Fuck, now you've done it.'_

"Oh yeah, what's my type?" the man became defensive.

"My best guess?" Alex looked across the bar and found the most plain, boring looking woman in the room, "Pant suit to your left: reserved, quiet, conservative, and boring as a fucking plank of wood."

The man's face grew the shade of a tomato that had been allowed to become much too ripe. He looked absolutely infuriated, and it pleased Alex to such an extent that the conversation about Piper left her mind for a moment.

"On an unrelated note," Ben cut in, Alex was sure he was trying to diffuse the tension between her and the tomato-faced man, "I'll bet 200 bucks that this girl right here can get any girl of your choosing to leave with her in less than half an hour."

The editor's eyes shot to look at Ben. He was referring to her and the crazy, red man when he spoke. Obviously, their boss had too much to drink already.

"What the fuck, Ben?' Alex said quite angrily.

"You're on," they were shaking on it.

'_Fuck me.'_

"Don't let me down, Vause," Ben's whisper in her ear made her shut her eyes in pure irritation. This was absolute bullshit. At least Piper wasn't here to see it; that would make this even more difficult.

"Fine. Pick my poison," the words left her mouth and cut at the man as she flagged down a waitress. "Can I get a shot of Makers?" the waitress nodded and turned to leave, "actually, bring the bottle."

'_I'll need it.'_

* * *

"My girl!" Ben yelled across the entire bar as a brunette, who just so happened to be a model, was being led out the back of the bar by Alex Vause, who shook her head as she watched tomato man place a wad of cash in Ben's outstretched palm.

After throwing back a couple of shots, giving her enough time to figure out how she was going to handle this situation, Alex had sauntered over to the woman and struck up a conversation with her. She made the model laugh with little to no effort, which put Alex at ease with her plan of action.

The model was very, for lack of better terms, dimwitted,and it had taken less than fifteen minutes for Alex to charm her and get her to follow her out of the bar with her. At least, charming was what everyone else saw from afar. When Alex went to whisper in her ear, something that looked extremely flirtatious, she had promised the girl a hundred dollar bill to go along with the bet for the sake of her friend.

Usually, Alex would've felt nothing against Ben for putting her up to it. She would've actually welcomed the challenge with open arms, won, and had a night filled with alcohol and a moaning, naked model in her apartment. She had no desire for that right now, however. All that Alex wanted to do was go home and relax, and possibly even talk to Piper later.

Nothing ever worked out the way Alex planned for it to.

They reached the back door, where Alex pushed it open and held it for the brunette to pass through first. On the contrary, the door was opened to reveal two women who were about to enter the bar. One was a short brunette with a fair complexion. The other was Piper.

"Fuck," Alex's eyes glanced between all three women, whose eyes were all fixed on her, and cue-ball who was looking especially interested in the scene. "Fuck."

* * *

_A/N: And so ends chapter 9, which was very Alex-centric. I apologize once again for the time it took to post this chapter (I've rewritten it twice now). I hope you all enjoy it! I will be posting at least one more chapter by Monday. Actually aiming for two over the weekend (was going to start tonight, but since I have to be at work in a few hours I should probably sleep). Please review and let me know what you think! Thank you for all the wonderful words so far and for the continued interest! I really appreciate each and every one of you. _

_Also, if you're interested in reading some short fics or wondering when I plan on updating, I have a tumblr dedicated to my fanfiction works now. I'll usually post a daily update on progress for this story and I may start to hint at another story I'm about to start working on (OITNB related, of course). Check it out if you'd like, the link is on my profile._


	10. Rage, Realizations, & A Stairwell

**The Internship**

**Chapter 10:**

_Rage, Realizations, & A Stairwell_

"Piper," her name was just a whisper as it rolled off of Alex's tongue. The blonde was glaring between her manager turned _something_ and the extremely attractive brunette who she was leading outside, no doubt to her bike and apartment. The same apartment where Piper had been with Alex all fucking day.

'_You have got to be fucking kidding me.'_

Polly's eyes were surely on her by now, but Piper didn't care to notice; she was too busy pressing her jaw up into her skull, trying to keep her mouth shut.

There was no way that anyone else would ever get themselves into such a fucked up situation. No one, save for Piper Chapman, would ever have the fortune to be pulled towards someone like Alex Vause with a force that felt as permanent as gravity. But, hey, she had been warned, right? Everyone that she had been in contact with that knew Alex had dropped at least one small hint that Alex wasn't one to get messed up in. Well, fuck if Piper wasn't tangled up in her.

"Polly, this is my manager," she spat the words, not looking away from Alex's wide blue-green eyes. Her feet carried her forward through the open door that Alex was still holding open with her long arm. "Excuse us, Alex," she walked directly into the woman rather than turning her body slightly to miss her. The force into the raven haired woman's shoulder made her stumble back, but Piper felt no remorse.

"Hey," the raspy voice called after her with no response once more, her forearm caught in a grasp that still sent electricity through her veins. She pulled away quickly, refusing to fall into another one of Alex's pits. She needed some space. As she regarded Alex with an ice cold stare, one that she hoped the woman would have burned in the back of her mind for days to come, Polly followed her through the door in a more careful and polite manner than she'd given the two women.

"What the fuck was that?" Polly asked quietly in Piper's ear as they walked further into the bar. Piper's body was still on fire with anger and disgust. Did Alex really feel absolutely nothing? If she did, then there hadn't been anything genuine between the women thus far, which made Piper ultimately conclude one thing: Alex was a cold hearted bitch.

'_It doesn't make sense.'_

"Nothing, Pol," she tried to reassure her friend that everything was fine, knowing that it wouldn't work for very long. "We just don't see eye to eye."

Across the bar, she found her co-workers sitting at a booth. All but one of them were laughing loudly and heartily. Piper made her way to the booth, Polly following in tow.

"Chapman!" Jerry exclaimed through his now diffusing laughter. "Have a seat!" Piper looked around the booth.

"Thanks, but we're just going to the bar. Don't want to cramp you guys up in that tiny booth," she forced a smile and a polite demeanor, wanting to avoid any awkwardness or questions from the co-workers about the scene that they may or may not have witnessed.

"You can have my seat," the quiet man spoke angrily, eyeing Ben across the table, "I was just leaving." Piper shot a questioning look toward Ben after the man stomped off, mumbling something under his breath as he did so.

"Don't mind him, he's just a sore loser," Ben pointed to the open space in the booth with the bottle he clutched in his right hand before bringing it to his lips.

'_He's not the only one.'_

Piper and Polly slid into the booth. "Who do we have here?" Ben asked, his brow lifted.

The blonde intern introduced her friend to the group and continued her 'pleasant Piper' act for as long as she could possibly stand without ripping a hole into the inside of her jaw with her teeth. She excused herself to the bathroom, hoping it was empty as she slipped her way between bodies and stray chairs in the center of the floor.

"Fuck her," Piper splashed her face with water and held a death grip on the sink as she stared at herself. Her blonde hair was naturally wavy today, where she hadn't dried her hair this morning after her shower.

The young woman shut her eyes, only to rip her lids apart instantly. Behind her eyelids, she had seen a flash of Alex's face, her eyes low and glinting with seduction as she stared at Piper this morning. The moment had been a daring one for Piper, and the thought that Alex could think nothing of her made her grunt in rage once more and throw her head back.

"Piper," Piper's eyes darted to the doorway where Polly had just entered. Her voice was soft, confused, and caring. It made Piper's rage turn into what she was really holding back: a pain ripping through her chest.

Polly's hands were now on Piper's biceps, the blonde only now realizing that she had been staring at the bathroom floor for a few seconds.

"Tell me about Alex," there wasn't much that she could hide from Polly, and despite how she felt about the surprise visit earlier, Piper was glad to have her best friend with her now.

* * *

Piper and Polly had remained at Rips until darkness took over the streets and the street lamps were fully lit. The blonde, who had refused to drink much after her previous night had surely destroyed the lining in her stomach and crippled her liver for the day, sat around her co-workers as they indulged themselves in a large amount of alcohol; her best friend wasn't far behind them.

When they left the bar, Piper left through the front door, refusing to cross paths with cue-ball who knew Piper's face and had witnessed the scene between herself and Alex earlier. She assumed it hadn't been the first time that he had seen such drama around the raven haired, beautiful, cold woman.

"Spill, Piper," Polly commanded in a caring voice as they walked back to Piper's apartment. Piper took a minute to think about how she was going to tell her best friend what was going on when, quite honestly, she didn't know herself. What was there to say? That the beautiful woman with her sparkling eyes, sexy glasses, and dangerous demeanor had been pulling at her heart strings ever since she had slammed into her with a door? Yeah, no.

"Obviously, we met at work," she started trying to put words together to appease her friend, staring up at the passing dark buildings. "Alex is, well," she paused.

'_Downright stunning, an intellect, a manipulator, a mystery, dangerous, so many things…'_

Piper's feet stopped moving and she exhaled heavily, trying to rid herself of all the feelings clouding her mind.

"Have you ever felt like something was just right? Even when it shouldn't be. When everything surrounding you tells you to run away as fast as you can, but you can't. You don't want to," Piper felt the gaze of her friend, but didn't dare look at her. If she were to move right now, she wouldn't be able to hold it together. Everything that she just said would become real and there would be no turning back.

There was no turning back, not now. Not even yesterday. Not five days ago.

"Come on, Pipes," Polly took her by the arm and led her down the sidewalk to her apartment, "we'll go eat ice cream, watch movies, and talk shit about this Alex cunt until you feel better." Piper chuckled and let her friend's presence take over her thoughts for the night.

* * *

Piper was still awake when the sun started rising the next morning. Her best friend had kept her word when they had returned home the night before. They each made it through a pint of ice cream and watched Pretty Woman, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Silver Linings Playbook back to back. Halfway through Silver Linings Playbook, Polly crashed. Nothing more had been said about Alex.

That didn't mean the thoughts were gone.

Piper stared out at the sunrise through her living room window from her white lounge chair, watching as the light reflected off of each building until they were all naturally illuminated. The way the city slowly began to wake was magical to the young woman. There were early birds, most of them running, followed by the weekend workers who seemed to drag themselves to their destinations rather than walk, and then the rest of the city followed, forming the hustle and bustle that was New York City.

Piper sipped at the tea in her mug as her friend stumbled out of her bedroom, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"Morning, sleepy head," there was nothing to Piper's voice. It felt hollow even to her, but she had resolved to take only today to determine how she was going to deal with work from here on out. Even after seeing Alex leave the bar, her hand touching that damned brunette the way it had touched Piper's lower back only hours before, there was still a voice in the back of her mind that kept telling her that she couldn't have been so wrong about the raven haired editor.

"Did you even sleep?" Polly asked as she plopped onto the couch. Piper didn't answer, only taking another sip of her tea and gazing down at the people on the street below.

"Do you care if I go for a run?" the blonde turned to her friend with the question. Polly shook her head and her lips formed a knowing smile. "Okay, I won't be gone long."

The blonde changed into a pair of running shorts, a sports bra, and a tank top. She pulled on her running shoes, on which the soles were almost bare of any grip, and grabbed her phone and headphones off the table by the door where she had dropped them the night before. When she went to plug the headphones into the jack, she saw that the notification light was flashing. Three missed calls, and a text message: all from Alex.

**From: Alex**

**Piper, we really need to talk. Please call me back. It's not what you think. **

The blonde tapped the home button with her thumb, choosing to wait until she was too tired to have any emotional reaction before acknowledging Alex's attempt to apparently explain herself. What was there to explain? Really?

She scrolled through her playlist as she bounced down the stairs, choosing a song that seemed fitting for her. The warmth of the sun hit her skin and she finally smiled. The pounding bass in her ears and the feel of concrete passing beneath her feet carried Piper away from the world for a while.

_Don't you worry, don't you worry child._

* * *

Alex's fingers pushed through her dark locks, tugging at them in frustration, as she leaned back against her bike outside of Rips. For the first time in the woman's life, she truly didn't have a clue what she was supposed to do.

Piper had showed up at exactly the worst time of the night. Even though Alex had no intentions whatsoever toward the brunette model that she was leading outside at the time, she knew it looked bad. It probably looked more than just bad, especially since she was doing a damn good job of making Ben and the others believe that she was on her way to getting laid.

'_Stupid fucking bet.'_

Alex had tried to stop Piper, to get her to listen to what she had to say; but, she didn't want to cause a scene and she knew, from her experience earlier that morning, that Piper wasn't exactly good with listening in stressful situations. After she had paid the model and the woman disappeared down the street, she tried to call the blonde woman to ask her to come outside. Of course, it was a fruitless endeavor, Piper hadn't even answered the phone.

"I see you're trying to take my advice," Cue-ball was now standing a few feet in front of her, Alex could see his shadow on the ground in front of her. Her chin lifted as she acknowledged the man that was nice to her for absolutely no reason.

"I don't do relationships," she said simply, her mind still grinding like a rusty machine, bogged down by all of the anger and frustration at herself that she was feeling at the moment. "Actually, I'm just really good at handling them really badly." A deep chuckle came from the man.

"You're a smart girl, you'll figure it out, Vause," and with that he moved back to his post by the door, leaving Alex to her thoughts. She considered going to Piper's apartment and waiting there until she returned, but trashed the idea after remembering that her friend would be with her.

'_She probably wouldn't talk to me anyway.'_

Alex pulled her phone back out of her pocket and dialed it once again, this time knowing there would be an answer on the other end.

"Talk to me," Nicky answered the phone the same way no matter who was calling. It always made Alex laugh. Today, the shell that was her face only cracked a sliver, the corner of her mouth twitching up a bit.

"Can I come over?" Alex swung her leg over her bike and leaned back, her free hand propping her up as she closed her eyes with her head back.

"Uh, yeah. You okay, Vause? You sound a little off," Alex sat back up and ignored the concern in Nicky's voice.

"See you in a minute," she hung up, tied her hair behind her neck and sped her motorcycle off in the direction of her friend's home.

* * *

Nicky was sitting on the front step when Alex pulled up. Her hair was back to its usual frizziness after it had been tamed last night. The woman met her halfway up the walk to her house.

"Red's got some people over," the girl put her hands on her hips and flicked her eyes back to the house that she shared with a Russian woman who had become a motherly figure to the girl. Nicky worked for the woman in her restaurant when she and Alex first met.

Alex lifted her chin a bit and walked past Nicky toward the stoop, where she took a seat on the concrete step. Nicky followed and took a seat beside her friend, clearly curious as to what had her so out of it.

"Want a cig?" Nicky asked as she pulled a menthol cigarette from a pack sitting on the steps. Alex shook her head in response.

"I quit, remember?" She took her glasses off and looked at them, spinning the frame between her fingers absent mindedly. Nicky put the filter in her lips and sparked a lighter.

"Best way to judge how fucked up you are right now," Nicky smirked. "Talk, Alex." The raven haired woman slid her glassed into her hair and rubbed her face with both hands.

"I sort of fucked up with Piper," she started, but decided it would be best to just tell Nicky the events of the last two hours. Starting from Polly calling Piper, she told her everything from driving around to going to Rips to the bet.

The stupid bet. And then there was the look that Piper gave her in the bar. It had chilled Alex to the bone, cutting her deep, and it still hadn't worked its way out of her head. Nicky listened intently, staying silent the entire time like the good friend that she was. That was the thing about Nicky that made her so different from everyone else in Alex's life: even though she could be a complete and total nut, she was smart, too smart for her own good, and she empathized with others really well.

"Damn, that's fucked up," Nicky finally spoke once Alex was done with her recollection of the night. "Why aren't you over there?"

"Over where?" Alex was confused by her question.

"At Chapman's. You've gotta tell her what really went down if you're serious about keeping things good between you two," Nicky was eyeing her strangely, "which, you obviously are if this is tearing you up so badly."

The raven haired woman remained silent for a while, refusing to say anything without being absolutely positive that she was being honest with herself about Piper. There was no doubting that she was attracted to the woman. She was blonde haired, blue eyed perfection, but it was so much more than that. Earlier that day, Piper had been relaxing with her in her apartment just talking. Alex couldn't remember the last time she had been so comfortable around anyone besides Nicky and her mother. In fact, there may have never been another time. It was true, what she had told Nicky last night, Piper was different.

"I'll talk to her," her voice was low, "but, I think I should probably give her a little space for now. The look on her face when she saw me and that girl," a shudder ran through her body as the scene flashed before her eyes. Alex knew one thing for certain, she never wanted to see that again.

"Good," Nicky put her arm around Alex's shoulders, squeezing her in a light, quick, yet affectionate hug. "Even though you made me want to barf last night, you seem happier around her," Alex playfully pushed her friend away and pulled her glasses back down onto her nose, her lips pulling into a smile. The front door opened behind them and four men exited the home.

"C'mon, Red made coconut cake," Nicky tapped Alex's shoulder as she stood and ran in the house after cake like a little girl. Alex rolled her eyes and followed behind the woman, happily taking her friend up on the offered distraction.

* * *

Sweat dripped from the tips of Piper's blonde stray hairs that had slipped down from her tight ponytail as she ran. She was back on her street now, her apartment only a few strides up the road. The young woman hadn't focused on anything in particular while her feet carried her forward; the music in her ears had become the only thing she noticed.

Until now.

Piper slowed her speed, taking in the figure standing outside of her apartment building. She pulled her headphones from her ears as she approached the tall frame whose black hair was being lightly tossed from the breeze blowing between buildings.

"Hey, Piper."

* * *

Alex walked home from Nicky's early Saturday morning, taking her sweet time as she felt the concrete of New York's sidewalk beneath the soles of her shoes. It was cool outside, the perfect temperature, it reminded her of walking home from Piper's apartment.

'_Shit.'_

Her fingers pushed her dark hair back from her forehead. Piper was a virus, spreading like uncontrollable wildfire through her mind. She made her feel things that Alex had been trying to steer clear from her entire life. She made her feel. That was the problem. She felt jealousy, frustration, anger, and a sort of vulnerability all in one week. After avoiding them for so long, it was an emotional overload.

And for some reason unbeknownst to her, Alex was craving more.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket once more, not surprised that it hadn't rang all day. Regardless of the warfare waging in her mind on whether or not she should attempt to talk to the blonde again tonight, she dialed Piper. It rang a full seven times before a mechanical sounding voice informed her that the woman's voice mailbox was full. She flipped her phone shut and continued walking.

Alex's keys clinked on the nightstand in her room as she passed it by, dropping them and her clothing as she made her way to the shower, hoping the sting of hot water would wash away the guilt that clung to her skin.

The rest of the night was the same as what had become Alex Vause's normal pattern. She curled up on her couch with a cup of coffee and a book, letting the words take her off to a faraway land where the emotions she felt were not her own.

One line caught her attention. She read it several times before shutting the book and tossing it onto the coffee table, heading to bed. Alex resolved to deal with the Piper situation in the morning, needing to confront her demons and the storm of confusion that was clearly evident between Piper and herself. She sent the woman a quick text message before shutting off the light and clutching the pillow, Jane Austen's words still tumbling around in her head.

'_Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.'_

'_Try five.'_

* * *

The editor of Big Apple Publishing was fed up. She had awoken to absolutely no correspondence from Piper, expecting to see at least a text message. At first, she had assumed that the woman may still be in bed, but after 10 AM passed, she knew it wasn't true; this only made her angrier. How could Piper sleep when she had tossed and turned all night? How can she just ignore me? Alex knew how she affected people, she took great pride in it. And it had been clear that Piper had been affected by her charm, but was it possible for her to have shoved the feelings away so easily?

'_Dammit, I'll find out.'_

She pulled on her shoes, a simple pair of black and gray vans. They accompanied her black shorts and dull blue-gray v-neck shirt. She tossed her hair up with her fingers, not really caring what it looked like, although she did have that messy-on-purpose look going for her. She left her apartment in haste, grabbing her keys and phone, and headed to the Gallant Apartment building.

Having to walk to Piper's place didn't help Alex's mental status in the slightest. She had forgotten that she left her bike at Nicky's last night; that would be her next stop of the day. When she reached the front of the building, she checked her phone once more. Nothing.

'_Bitch.'_

Her feet carried her up the steps quickly and to the ugly green door with the bronze number "307" screwed into its front. Her knuckled rapped at the door rapidly.

"Piper!" she projected her voice so she knew the woman would know it was her. There was no answer, but Alex heard noises of shuffling inside.

"Come on, kid, open up," she knocked again, this time banging the side of her fist into the door.

Still nothing.

"God damn it, Piper!" the door swung open just as Alex's fist was about to meet it once more. Instead she ended up almost hitting the woman that had been with Piper at the bar.

"Watch it!" she yelled at Alex, made her inch closer to the edge of losing it. She glared down at the small woman, daring her to say one more thing in her angry tone. The woman took the hint, her voice grew softer but still cut sharply through the air between them. "Piper isn't here. She went out for a run."

"Know when she'll be back?" Alex had her hand pressed against the door, holding it in place in case the woman tried to shut it.

"Nope," their eyes were locked, each trying to instill a sort of dominance over the situation. Alex knew that this woman was Piper's friend, and she probably knew all about Piper and herself by now, but Alex was serious, she needed to talk to the blonde. She needed to know.

More than anything.

Laughter came from behind her, a familiar light laughter. It made her turn instantly. Piper was coming towards her, accompanied by the man that Alex had threatened at Rips the first night they met. When her blue eyes looked up to meet Alex's gaze, she instantly stopped moving.

"Alex?" her voice was soft and the raven haired woman detected a tremor as she spoke her name. A wave of guilt coated her once more.

Her legs disobeyed her mind, reacting on pure impulse, carrying her towards the blonde who was staring at her with wide eyes. She grasped the woman's wrist, tight enough that she wouldn't be able to pull away, but not in a manner that was meant to hurt her.

"We need to talk," she said plainly as she drug the young woman behind her. Her mind was riddled with thoughts, warnings, screaming that she was going against everything she had ever strived for. Peace, harmony, being alone and without any attachments. It was supposed to make things easier. It did, but damn if she didn't feel better when Piper was around.

She pushed through the door to the stairwell, it was the only secluded place that Alex knew of in the building. She had assumed that Piper didn't want anyone hearing them, but really Alex just didn't want the publicity. She needed the blonde to focus on her and only her; she needed her to hear her out.

"Alex, I don't-," Piper started, her wrist still in Alex's grasp. The dark haired woman was already frustrated; she just needed her to listen.

"Stop, listen to me. Last night wasn't-,"

"We can't-," Alex couldn't take it. All of the feelings from yesterday and days before came bubbling up, boiling to the point of exploding inside her.

"Shut up," her voice was raspy and ranged somewhere between a whisper and a low growl. Her hand left Piper's wrist and both of them immediately found the blondes face. Her thumbs pressed gently against the woman's cheek bones as she used her body to back her up into the concrete wall.

Within half a second and without any thought at all, Alex's lips crashed into Pipers. Warmth crept through her from the soft lips that had instantly accepted her own, responding with the same need that Alex felt. The raven haired woman poured her soul into the kiss, releasing every moment of anguish and every feeling of wanting she's experienced since Piper stumbled into her life.

She stroked the blonde's cheek lightly with her thumb as they broke apart, their eyes locking instantly and both of them at a loss for words. Piper's hand grazed Alex's cheek and her blue eyes grew fiery in the dimly lit stairwell. The blonde leaned into her, their lips meeting once more in another passion filled kiss. Alex felt Piper melt into her and everything surrounding them fell to the background; Alex finally got her answer.

She wasn't alone.

* * *

_A/N: Hope you're enjoying the ride! A big thanks to all of you for reading!_


	11. A Better Day & A Little Gambling

**The Internship**

**Chapter 11:**

_A Better Day & a Little Gambling_

"Larry?" Piper's head cocked to the side slightly as she slowed her jog to a walk, placing her hands on her hips and breathing a little heavy.

The young woman definitely hadn't expected a visit from Larry, especially after the incident at Rips. Especially after Alex basically threatened him.

Alex.

'_Fuck.'_

"I, uh," he stumbled over his words, pointing back to the apartment building over his shoulder and never looking Piper directly in the eyes. She rolled her own, wishing he would just get to the point already. His stuttering would've probably been cute to someone who was into shy; Piper just wasn't. "Sorry. Polly called, said you were out and wanted to know if I wanted to get lunch. I just called and told her I was outside."

Piper parted her lips slightly as she raised her chin in acknowledgement before walking toward the door to the building and opening it, stepping to the side.

"Come on, we'll probably meet her on the way down," Larry gave her an apologetic looking smile as he went through the open door. They walked up the stairs slowly, Piper's legs were shaky from the run. She probably should've ate something, or at least drank water, before exerting herself like that.

Oh well. Live and learn.

"Look, Piper," Larry started and Piper noticed he was staring down at the steps. "I'm really sorry about the other night. I was way too drunk, and-,"

"It's alright, Larry," Piper's voice was forgiving and soft. She didn't hate the guy, they had just started their friendship off on the wrong foot. Or even a third foot, one that shouldn't have existed. Maybe they could pull of the whole 'being friends' thing.

"Who was that woman anyway?" Piper couldn't help but smirk at the question, biting the inside of her bottom lip. They reached the third floor landing before the blonde responded.

"That was Alex, my manager for my first week," her voice tapered off over the length of her statement, but she shrugged back the images in her head once more, "She's a bit-,"

"Psychotic? Territorial? Aggressive?" Piper laughed as she pulled the stairwell door open, paint flaking off it to reveal the rust beneath it.

"I was going to say intimidating," she shot a smile to Larry who reciprocated and followed behind her.

"That, too," the man ruffled his hair with his fingers, "she scared the shit out of me."

"Yeah, she's-," Piper stopped mid-sentence as a familiar raspy voice sent a shudder through her body, freezing her in place. Her blue eyes traveled to her apartment door where Alex Vause stood, her eyes full of intensity as she cut the air with sharp words directed at her best friend.

"Alex," her voice deceived her, saying the name of the woman that she had been trying to push out of her mind. It was barely audible, even to Piper, but it must've just been drowned by the ringing in her ears; Alex was moving toward her.

The next thing Piper comprehended was that she was back in the dimly lit stairwell with Alex standing directly in front of her. The look in her sparkling eyes was absolutely terrifying, but not because the raven haired woman looked angry; she looked completely out of her element. Was that fear, pain?

She had no right. Piper was the one that was allowed to feel hurt, not Alex. She was the problem. This had to end.

"Alex, I don't-," Piper tried to speak, but the raspy voice cut her off, and also sliced through her resolve. The longer she stood there, the longer she had to take in the aura that was Alex Vause, the harder it was going to be to walk away. The dark haired woman's words fell deafly on Piper's ears.

"We can't-," she dropped her eyes, unable to even look at her without feeling like she was doing something that went against the nature of the world.

Alex's touch brought her back, her low blue eyed gaze slid up to the blue-green irises in front of her. Her fingers were like dry ice, that sweet burn on her cheeks made her body lock like it did around her, refusing to tear away from the sensation. Her senses heightened, her back pressed against the cold concrete wall behind her, and then the world fell away.

The softness of Alex's lips against hers shocked Piper and her legs felt like they were going to give away beneath her. The electricity that crackled between them was now flowing through the pair in a magnificent show of passion and need. Seconds, minutes, even hours could've passed and it would've felt like nothing to the blonde woman right now. There was Alex and herself; nothing else existed.

When their lips parted, Piper could hardly bare the separation. She needed more: more time, more electricity, more ice, more Alex. Her determination to refuse Alex any part in her life had diminished to ash; or rather, it had transformed into a wanting to have her in every part of her life.

Her thin fingers traced Alex's cheek, hovering just low enough that she only brushed her perfect skin. Her foot slid forward as she snaked her fingers around Alex's neck and capturing her lips once more in a sweet embrace molded to perfection.

When she felt Alex's lips slowly parting from her own, Piper's lids opened slowly. Alex's mouth was less than an inch from her own and her fingers were tangled in her hair. They stared into each other's eyes, Piper knew that Alex was searching for something in her eyes from the way the blue-green orbs were dancing around.

"Piper," her voice cracked and it made the blonde shake suddenly. She forced herself to swallow as she remained silent, not sure what to say or if she could even speak.

"That girl," she was looking at her intensely, clearly feeling as taken away from reality as Piper did. "It was a bet, Piper."

Her eyebrows raised and she parted her lips to speak, but Alex's finger pressed against them before any sounds left her throat. The blue-green eyes pleaded her to remain silent; she obeyed.

"I wasn't even planning on going to the bar when I dropped you off, but I thought-, I was trying to keep people from asking questions," Piper hadn't even considered what problems their relationship may cause at the office, nor had she even thought about other people knowing. Ben probably wouldn't have an issue with it, but there was at least one person for sure that would feel the need to fuck with them.

"Ben bet a guy that I could get that girl to go home with me, and I did," Piper's eyes darted away at the confession. It shouldn't hurt like it did; she was being stupid. Alex's finger gently turned her chin so she was facing her once more, but the blue eyes couldn't focus on the dark haired woman. Piper didn't allow it. "Piper, I paid her off. I told her I'd give her a hundred bucks to go along with it. You just so happened to walk in at the end of the act."

"You paid her?" Piper finally found her voice, as soft and strained as it was. It couldn't be true; but, it also had to be. She knew something hadn't been right, knew that Alex couldn't be so cold towards her the way she was with others. It just seemed like it wasn't a possibility for her to be immune to the feelings that Piper had been so caught up in.

"I was about to go home, read a book," the corners of Alex's lips twitched up momentarily, "maybe call you later on. I'm-, kid, I haven't ever been good at-," Piper's lips were barely pressed together as she smiled.

"Apology accepted," she whispered before pressing her lips to Alex's cheek. The raven haired woman backed away slightly, sliding her soft fingers down Piper's arm and taking her hand into her own.

"Well, I'm glad for that," Alex adjusted her glasses and her thumb ran over Piper's knuckles softly. "I don't know what it is about you, Piper Chapman, but I swear to God I've never felt the way I feel when I'm around you."

Piper squeezed the woman's hand. She was only half shocked by the woman's admission. One part of her believed that Alex was simply toying with her, that the confident, gorgeous, highly intelligent woman could never be interested in her beyond just having a little fun. On the other hand, she hadn't yet been able to justify how the woman could instill the rush in Piper's veins if she didn't feel it herself.

"Ditto," the young woman smiled, at a complete and utter loss for words.

"Ditto?" Alex laughed; it was a sound that made the dim lighting of the stairwell feel much brighter to the blonde. A perfect, dark eyebrow pulled up as Alex's soft lips pulled up to one side, "Are you always this articulate?"

Piper joined in on Alex's laughter. They both turned their gaze to the sound of footsteps descending from the upper floors. From her reaction, Piper could tell that Alex had felt as if they were in their own little world, too.

"I guess I need to go talk to Polly, probably run some damage control," Piper's gaze went to the small window in the large, rusty door. Alex nodded and slipped her hand out of Piper's slowly. The lack of contact between them bothered Piper, but only slightly. Everything was okay again. Back to the way it was.

'_Which was what?'_

"Alex, I think-," Piper started, but was cut off yet again.

"We need to talk," she was nodding, knowing what the blonde meant immediately. "We will. Go see your friend." Alex smiled and turned to walk down the stairs. Piper watched as she slid her hands in her back pockets. "And check your damn phone more often."

Piper chuckled at the command and bit her lip in a smile as she grabbed blindly for the door behind her. She banged into it with her back slightly, she heard Alex let out a laugh in response.

"Watch those doors, kid," the words were soft, filled with so much more than a warning as they traveled up to her. They were abstract, pointless, but they made Piper's heart flutter nonetheless.

'_All that over a fucking bet.'_

* * *

Piper didn't see Polly or Larry in the hallway and silently sent up a thank you that she didn't have to face them just yet. The blonde shut her apartment door behind her and leaned against it, shutting her eyes and smiling inwardly.

"Spill, Piper," Polly's voice forced her from the beautiful replay of the stairwell scene, the kiss, the… well, all of it. She groaned, seeing both Polly and Larry staring at her when she opened her eyes.

It took all day and a lot of changing the subject before Piper was able to get Polly off her back about happened between her and "super cunt", as she had dubbed Alex. Larry had cringed every time Polly brought Alex up in conversation while he was around. It made Piper mentally laugh like a maniac.

It was definitely a good day.

Now, Polly was dead to the world and Piper was clutching her phone in her hand where an unsent message was shining up from the bright screen. She didn't really know how to approach the impending talk that she and Alex both knew they needed to have. Piper wanted to get it over with, but there was no way she was bringing Alex into her apartment with Polly there. It could potentially be a disaster in multiple ways; a couple of which made Piper's cheeks flush.

**Hey… when did you want to talk?**

Her thumb went to tap the send button, but the phone shook in her hand before she had the chance, an audible buzz making her jump slightly. The screen was lit up with the caller's name, it made Piper smile.

Alex.

"Hello Alex," she answered, attempting to sound somewhat smooth, as she gazed out her somewhat large living room window into the dark of New York City that was beautifully lit by escaping lights through windows and street lights.

"So proper," Alex's voice made a shock run through her spine even over the phone.

'_Fuck, how does she do that?'_

"But, of course," Piper put on her best lady like accent, which quite frankly was bad and came out slightly British sounding, "Finishing school works wonders." Alex's laughter over the phone made her smile more and an idea sparked in the blonde's head.

"So, about that talk," her eyes squinted a bit as she smiled, turning and leaning her back against the wall next to the window. "How quickly can you get here?"

* * *

Alex's steps down the stairwell were taken without a single conscious thought. She had no idea how she had made it back into the busy world of New York without falling, to be completely honest. She was too high off what had just happened to even realize what she was physically doing.

She stopped outside of Piper's building and reclaimed her composure, trying to tell herself that she didn't need to be feeling so crazy. That this was just another girl that she just so happened to like a little more than usual.

Except Piper wasn't _just another girl_, and she happened to like the blonde _a lot_ more than normal.

Remembering that she was on foot, she pushed herself away from the wall she had been leaning against and shoved off towards Nicky's house to retrieve her bike. She figured the ever-hyper Nicky Nichols would want to hear all about the Piper situation when she arrived; but, to Alex's enjoyment, it looked like Nicky was quite busy for the time being.

An older model Toyota Camry, bright red, was parked outside of Red's place. Alex's eyes cut at the house, making sure the windows were free of witnesses before she peered into the back seat of the car. She chuckled and shook her head as she bounced up the walkway, not being able to let the moment pass her up.

The car was littered with glamorously wrapped mail and designer shoe boxes, which meant that there was a certain interest of Nicky's inside her home. This little fact also meant Nicky would be beyond pissed if she was to be interrupted. An evil glint sparkled in Alex's eyes as she banged on the front door.

"Fuck!" she heard a voice from behind the door and saw the curtain window to her right sway slightly. The door opened quickly, revealing a very messy looking Nicky. Her hair was crazier than normal and her shirt was on inside out.

"God, I wish I had a camera," Alex smirked, laughing at Nicky who barked a response back quickly.

"Shut the fuck up. Make it quick." This, of course, made Alex linger in the doorway, shifting her weight from side to side, pretending that she didn't hear the hastiness in her friend's voice, and finally leaning against the side of the door frame before speaking again.

"I went to Pipers," the door was almost slammed in Alex's face, making her laugh even more as she stuck her hand out to catch it.

"Look Vause, tell me later, I'm busy," Nicky growled, clearly not as amused by the situation as Alex was.

"Oh, I know," the raven haired woman held out her open palm, "I need my keys to my bike, please, madam." Her evil smile never faltered; Alex loved to fuck with Nicky. Her friend's personality never made it easy to do; she rolled with the punches like a champ. But, Alex had the upper hand by knowing her kryptonite was laying inside the house, at least half naked if she had to guess.

Nicky groaned and turned on her heel, shoving her hands into her ratty hair. She returned quickly and slammed the key into Alex's hand.

"Much obliged," the editor responded, tipping an imaginary hat to Nicky as she backed away from the door. It started to slam, "Tell Lorna hi for me!" she yelled quickly before cranking up her bike and heading home where she was planning on getting a much needed nap.

* * *

_Alex was frozen by the sight in front of her, ice cold, unable to move. Piper was all that she could see, her hips swaying in a way that made the editor dizzy as the blonde made her way towards her. Piper's hand grazed her cheek, water dripped from the contact. _

_Her touch melted the ice; it set her free and on fire all at once. She wanted it, no needed it, again. First on her lips, so that she would be able to beg for more._

_As if she had been able to read her mind, Piper's lips were slowly bringing hers back to life. The rush of blood back to the previously numb portion of her body made Alex moan. No, it wasn't that. Not completely. It was just Piper. She did that to her. And then she pulled away, blue eyes capturing her own, drawing her into an intense haze before her vision went black._

'_No, please…'_

Alex's own voice woke her up. She had a tight grip around her pillow and she was lying diagonally across her bed with her feet and one hand hanging off the side. The raven haired woman jerked up, looking over her shoulder as if she was going to see another person next to her.

'_It was just a dream, idiot.'_

She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair, pulling knots out. Alex hadn't slept so deeply in a long time; it was definitely a nice feeling. After patting around on her bed and finding her glasses, she slipped them on and flipped open her phone.

"Holy shit," Alex had been asleep almost all day. After returning from Piper's and getting her bike from Nicky's around 11 that morning, she passed out in her room. It was almost 10 PM.

Leaning her head back against the head board and considering her dream, Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. What in the hell was that all about? What is wrong with me? She touched her lips lightly, dragging the pad of her finger across the bottom one, trying to remember exactly what Piper's lips had felt like. Her head had been really cloudy at the time, but it wasn't difficult to remember something so distinct; it was especially easy when that feeling was so exotic and completely new.

She wanted more.

Flipping open her phone, pressing a few buttons, and holding it to her ear, she couldn't help but anticipate the familiar voice on the other end. When the ringing cut off, Alex smiled widely.

* * *

"How quickly can you get here?" the sweet voice on the other end of the line made Alex's stomach flutter. It held something that she couldn't put her finger on, ranging somewhere between playfulness and need, and it made Alex jump up from her spot on the bed.

"See you soon, kid," she hadn't given a proper answer, nor did she wait for a reply before ending the call with a flick of her wrist and pulling on a pair of jeans with her free hand. Alex tossed her phone over her shoulder, not giving a damn about the thud it made when it bounced off her bed and onto the floor.

The woman looked around her floor for her shirt, but finally gave up and pulled a fitted, gray sheer button up around her body. She stood in the mirror as she buttoned it up and fixed the sleeves, rolling them up a bit. She turned her head every which way, tossing her hair around until her reflection looked as good as it was going to get after sleeping for eleven hours straight. Usually, she wouldn't have rushed so much; Alex liked looking good when she went out, in her own rockabilly kind of way.

But, this was different. Piper was waiting.

Everything is different.

Her hair flipped slightly in the flow of air generated by her quick exit. She left her phone on the floor of her bedroom, knowing she wouldn't need it. She wouldn't answer it even if it rang while she was gone anyway. She only grabbed her keys and tossed her license in her back pocket along with a twenty dollar bill, just in case, before she left, pulling the door shut behind her.

Alex's bike roared and popped beneath her as she parked it across the street from Piper's apartment building. The woman had hated the amount of time it took her to reach the apartment from her own, cussing under her breath at every inconvenient stop along the way, even though it was only about a ten minute trip.

In her rush to leave, she had forgotten both her helmet and her jacket; the air had been cold as it lashed her in the face along with wisps of hair. She felt frozen; almost the same kind of frozen from her dream, except she was able to move. Darting her eyes left and right, she crossed the empty street and entered the plain looking building that seemed to be falling to pieces from the outside in.

'_Damn, I wonder how much interns get paid. Surely she could've found a better place.' _

Alex took a few steps toward the door to the stairwell, but, before she reached the door, she felt someone grab her hand. The limb went numb for a split second and she instantly grinned.

"Hey, Pipes," her blue-eyes were now trained on the woman behind her, who, she suspected, had been standing just inside the door when she entered the building.

"Hey," the soft voice was extra quiet and Alex noticed Piper glance at their interlocked fingers. The blonde smiled up at her and tilted her head toward the elevator before pulling Alex along to the open doors.

"We're taking the elevator for three flights?" Alex questioned the woman. She did nothing in response, staring ahead as the doors shut in front of them. Finally, Piper hit the button for the top floor, 15, still not looking at Alex.

Alex couldn't stand that. Not one bit.

When the doors were completely shut, the small space charged with crackling electricity and energy between the two. Alex's eyes lowered, her thumb caressing the back of Piper's hand. It was too much not to be closer to Piper for the usually very touchy woman. Her blue-green orbs looked up at the floor they were on.

'_2? Fuck this. This is torture.'_

Alex backed herself in the corner of the elevator away from Piper; their hands were still locked, arms stretched to the maximum length possible. Her back pressed up against the two walls and she gently tugged on Piper's hand, raising her eyebrows, beckoning her. The blonde sent her a cautious look, but the way her eyes cut at her was beyond seductive and clearly intentional.

"Come," the word was mouthed. No sound came from either woman on the trip to wherever the hell Piper was leading them. Alex saw the glint in Piper's eye as she read her lips, knowing she would do almost anything she asked if Alex asked the _right_ way. The blonde instantly walked to her, but it was slow, agonizingly slow.

Alex took in the sight, watching the way her legs took every careful step, the way her hips dipped and raised, swaying in a way that couldn't have been deliberate, but it sure as hell looked like it. The raven haired woman licked her lips and finally pulled Piper into her body, feeling like she had shoved a knife into a light socket when she wrapped her arms around the waist of the smaller woman.

Piper's blue eyes were looking up at Alex, her hands were resting on Alex's sides, and they remained that way until the pair reached the top floor. Alex didn't need Piper to talk to understand her, she simply did. She knew that the blonde was beyond content with the way she was holding her. When they reached the top of the building, the pair let the elevator door open and close once before Piper blushed, cleared her throat, and pulled herself out of Alex's arms. Blue-green eyes followed the form out before the editor followed behind, chuckling as she did. Piper was heading toward the stairwell when Alex stepped out of the elevator. What the fuck was she doing, walking back down?

Following the possibly insane blonde, Alex stood on the landing for the top floor and watched the blonde intern climb another flight of stairs.

"Stop staring at my ass and come on," Piper called behind her without turning around. Alex bit her bottom lip and her lips curled into a smile.

"Hmm, I don't know Pipes. I do enjoy the view. How do I know that wherever you're taking me is better?" Alex's hand rested on the rail, looking up toward the blonde who was now looking over her shoulder at her.

"I guess you'll just have to trust me," there it was again, that voice that was so addictive that it had to be laced with something, "it's not like you can't just call me into your office and watch me walk away anytime you want during the week." Alex considered the blonde's words, her expression never changing as she began to ascend the stairs.

"Good point. Thanks for the idea. I'll have to start doing that," Piper laughed as she pushed open the door to their left. Cool air hit Alex in the face and pierced its way through her thin shirt. She crossed her arms over her body, watching Piper walk toward the edge of the roof and lean against the stone railing.

"Polly's in my apartment still," the blonde was looking out over the edge toward the sky as she spoke to Alex. Her hair danced around her face and Alex wanted more than anything to push it to one side and kiss her neck as she pulled the woman into her own body once more.

"I figured as much," Alex replied, walking over to the blonde and leaning her elbows against the railing, making her bend down quite a bit. "She's definitely not my biggest fan," Alex chuckled and Piper joined in. A moment of silence passed between them before Piper spoke again.

"I found this place my first night here, they never lock the door," her voice was quiet again, "I love the view."

"It is a damn good one, kid," Alex watched Piper out of the corner of her eye as she spoke, agreeing with Piper in a different sense. The raven haired woman saw Piper's hand and placed her own over top of it lightly, letting another perfect silence fall between them.

"Do you always do this?" Alex turned her head toward Piper at the question and noticed the blonde was now looking at her. She had no idea what she meant.

"Do what?" she asked for clarification as she cocked her head to the side.

"This. The charming, the butterflies, the electricity. Do you have this effect on every girl you meet?" Piper turned around and leaned into the stone, almost sitting on it. Alex stood, taking a step closer to the blonde.

"Even if I do, you," she dragged her finger lightly down Piper's jaw line, "are the only girl I've ever wanted to charm beyond one night." Piper's lips parted slightly and it made Alex want to capture them in her own, but she restrained herself. "And I've never felt something anywhere near as intense as our kiss." Piper smiled at Alex's confession.

"I'm glad that wasn't one sided," Piper smiled, her eyes fiery. Alex could see her own eyes reflected in the glassy blue ones. "So, this-, us, I mean," Piper was stuttering adorably, "we're doing this?"

Alex didn't need to think, she knew that she wanted so much more with Piper than she had ever wanted with anyone else. It took a lot to get the lump out of her throat, though. It wasn't exactly easy for the usually closed off woman to open herself to someone, but she had to try this time. She craved the feelings that would surged through her veins when Piper was around.

"All my cards are on the table, Piper," Alex finally got the words out of her throat, "I'm all in." She cupped the woman's cheek and slid her other arm around her waist, pulling the woman's body against her own again. She felt her own heart start racing, nearly thumping out of her chest, and watched as Piper's cheeks turned the most beautiful shade of red. Piper inched closer, their lips brushing slightly as she whispered her answer.

"I call."

* * *

_A/N: I wish I could thank each one of you individually for every review, favorite, and follow you all have given this story. The feedback is mind-blowing to say the least. You're all amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This chapter ends the first week of Piper's internship, so things will begin to move a bit faster now. As always, please review. I love hearing your thoughts and feedback. _


	12. Explanations, Propositions, & a Need

**The Internship**

**Chapter 12:**

_Explanations, Propositions, & a Need for… Coffee_

"Piper," a whisper from her left caused the young blondes eyelids to part slowly. The woman took a deep breath and blinked a few times before she realized where she was. The cool chill blowing across the rooftop made goose bumps creep up on her bare arms, save for one warm spot that stretched across her body.

Alex Vause's arms were wrapped around the young blonde, one around her back her hand resting on Piper's bicep; the other was relaxingly crossing over her front as her fingers danced their way up and down the blondes forearm.

"Come on, kid. Let's get you to bed," Piper lifted her head from Alex's shoulder and nodded a bit, not making any attempt to move. She was too busy taking in the depth of Alex's blue green orbs. The black, thick rimmed glasses that normally covered her eyes were pushed up into the beautiful woman's raven hair exposing the hidden beauty of the glimmer in her gaze. Alex softly smiled causing a rush of warmth to spread through Piper's body as the older woman pressed her lips into Piper's slightly messed blonde hair.

'_This is unreal. If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up. It would be too cruel to tear myself away from this.'_

Scenes like this only played out on the big screens in front of patrons chomping on popcorn, or so the intern believed until this moment. This wasn't a dream in the slightest; this was Piper's life, and Alex Vause was her girlfriend.

'_Woah. Girlfriend.'_

Alex stirred, releasing Piper and shimmying out from under her. Piper watched as the dark haired beauty made what should have been awkward movements seem almost graceful. A pale, slender hand reached down toward her. Piper took it gladly, basking in the same flow of electricity that had coursed through her upon their first meeting, as she let Alex lead her back down to her apartment.

The pair stood outside the hunter green door for a few moments that Piper kept begging to last longer. Unfortunately, they both knew they needed to part ways for the night.

"Goodnight, Alex," Piper had to lift her chin slightly to meet Alex's eyes. She gave the taller woman a soft smile hinted with a bit of sadness.

'_If only Polly weren't here…'_

Piper's eyes instantly widened at the thought, realizing what she had just envisioned between herself and her very new girlfriend.

"Night, kid," Alex's voice was husky and deeper than normal; the obviously tired woman made Piper shiver all over. "I'll talk to you in the morning," the Vause signature smile crossed Alex's face before Piper leaned into her slightly open arms. Alex's soft lips met Piper's once more before the blonde watched her girlfriend walk backwards down the hallway for a few steps, then turning and disappearing through the door.

"_I call."_

_Piper watched as Alex's face instantly softened and a wide smile formed on her perfect lips. When she looked in the woman's eyes, however, a dull burn lit in her stomach. Her eyes were full of emotion, fiery emotion, and they held a wanting that made the blonde's body freeze. _

_Before she had the chance to move, Alex was in front of her, both of her long arms on either side of her, pinning her to the edge of the rooftop and holding her still with her seductive blue-green gaze. _

"_Al-," her word was cut short by the force of Alex's lips and her hands pulling her into her taller frame by her hips. The kiss was hard, heated, and fierce; it was fucking hot. Piper parted her lips and allowed Alex the control she was begging for by running her tongue over the blonde's lower lip. A moan rustled from deep within Piper as she lost herself, pulling the raven haired beauty closer and tangling her fingers in her hair. _

_Alex's lips traveled away from Piper's mouth and over to her ear, nipping her lobe. Her nerves were on fire as she focused on the sensation moving slowly down her neck and to her collar bone. The young woman's eyes fluttered open and met Alex's eyes as she looked down at her with a smirk. _

"_I'm sorry, I think I interrupted you. You were saying?" Piper's eyes lowered. Alex was definitely evil, she knew exactly how to make Piper fluster and the blonde loved every single second of it. _

"_I was just going to say," the blonde smiled as she paused._

'Two can play at that game.'

_Piper pushed Alex off of her only enough to cause her to step backward. As soon as the dark eyebrow raised questioningly, the young blonde had her hands on Alex's waist. She pushed until Alex's back was against the wall of the stairwell entrance and then she took control. Her lips conquered over Alex's as she picked up where they had left off seconds ago. She gently bit at her girlfriends bottom lip as she ran her fingernails around her waist, feeling the material ruffle slightly and wishing it wasn't between them. Alex groaned lowly into the kiss and smiled. _

_Alex's hands were traveling all around Piper's back as the blonde trailed kisses along her jaw and down the side of her neck. She made sure to note the spots that made Alex's hands pause as she explored. When she felt the cool air hit her side before a shock spread over the bare skin where her shirt had been, Piper returned her attention to Alex's mouth. _

"_Mmm, Pipes," Alex pulled her head to the side slightly, breaking their lips apart. Piper pressed her lips into Alex's cheek and then looked into her eyes. She was pretty sure she knew why Alex had stopped her, but she gave her a questioning look nonetheless._

"_If we keep going you're going to have to explain some questionable bruises in the morning," Alex's eyes were locked on her own and her voice was low. Piper's eyes danced around their current surroundings, which consisted of nothing but concrete. She nodded, giggling a bit._

"_I'm sure I could think of something," Piper laughed. Alex's finger was drawing circles on her side slowly, the feeling made her smile, "but I feel like you're more of a romantic than this." She gestured to the rooftop._

"_I mean, I could easily work with it," Alex smiled, "I've been in much more _difficult_ places." Piper raised an eyebrow and Alex took her hands into her own as she flashed her signature smirk. The raven haired girl slid down the wall into a sitting position and Piper followed her lead, leaning into the woman's shoulder lightly as they began to talk about Alex's previous 'difficult places'._

* * *

"Piper," a familiar voice called out to her in her dream as the rooftop began to shake. Piper wrapped her arms around Alex tightly, who didn't seem fazed by the rocking of the building below them.

'_Wait, that didn't happen.' _

"Piper, seriously, wake up," her blue eyes shot open to see Polly fiercely shaking her shoulder with one hand, a mug in her other hand. Piper groaned and rolled back over in her chair. "Geeze, thank god. You were talking and smiling like a creep. It freaked me out."

The blonde instantly bolted upright, her eyes wide at the thought of what she could have said. Shit. Double shit.

"Talking?" It was more of an exclamation than a question, but Polly didn't look too concerned as she took a long sip from her mug. The coffee aroma wafted into Piper's nose.

"Mumbling really. I couldn't really make out anything," Piper sighed silently in relief, "that smile, though. _That _was fucking scary. You looked kind of possessed." The blonde glared at her friend before chucking a pillow at her. "Ow! Rude."

Piper rubbed her eyes and then patted around the chair for her cell phone. Unable to find it, she stood and pulled the cushion off the chair, thankful to watch it flop onto the carpet. Putting the cushion back haphazardly, she picked up the flashing phone and unlocked it.

"So where were you last night," Polly asked as Piper walked to the kitchen, scrolling through emails and missed messages. The question went unanswered as it slipped between her ears and got lost in her jumbled mind.

**Sleep well? **

The sheer fact that Piper had crossed Alex's mind this morning made the blonde blush slightly. She was so in over her head with this one that it was absolutely ridiculous. But, there was just something about her, something about Alex Vause. Something…

"Pipes, you okay?" she jumped, hearing Polly's voice close behind her.

"Uh, yeah. Fine, Pol. Just making some tea," she sat the phone down on the counter and started making tea without turning around to see her friend, knowing she needed a second for her face to return to normal.

"You didn't answer my question," Polly's voice was serious now. There was no way that the young woman could hide anything from her best friend for long. She needed to tell her. Shit.

"I-, I was on the roof," crossing her arms and now facing her friend, Piper knew she hadn't said enough to pacify the woman. "Getting some air." Polly sat her mug down and raised her eye brows.

"Piper, you're obviously hiding something," Piper's gaze had drifted to the floor, but instantly shot back up to her friend after the accusation. "You're playing with your hair. It's your tell. Spill." The blonde hadn't realized her index finger had spooled a lock of blonde hair around it.

'_Shit.'_

"Alex came over," Polly's jaw dropped.

"Alex. Super cunt, Alex?" Piper rolled her eyes and nodded. "And?"

"And-," Piper turned around to tend to her tea that didn't really need tending to. A grin spread across her lips as she looked down into her empty mug. "We're going to try things out. Together."

Polly's eyes were locked onto Piper so heavily that the blonde swore she could feel her gaze burning holes through her skull and brain. She turned to face the imminent scolding she would be getting from her friend, only to see her rubbing her forehead as if she had a sudden migraine.

"Together? Like as a couple, together?" The blonde intern smiled and nodded. It really didn't matter what her friend said, to be honest, nothing was going to make her change her mind. "Piper, why do you do this?"

"Do what, Polly?" she barked her final words, not really meaning to, but being caught off guard by whatever the woman was criticizing her for.

"Go for these crazy, angry, uptight, unstable types. Every time. And you get hurt every time," Piper clenched her jaw. Polly obviously saw the tension in her face, "I'm just trying to look out for you. You're my best friend, Pipes, and I love you. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"If I do, it'll be my own fault, Pol," she poured her tea and then looked into her friend's eyes. "Look, I appreciate that you care this much. I do. And I love you too. And I can't explain it, but there's something between Alex and I, and neither of us can ignore it."

"Fine. Do what you want, you stupid lesbian," Polly was smiling now, her hands up in surrender and Piper returned the smile. "But, I don't like her. Fair warning."

"Fair enough," she nodded as she took a drink of her tea and picked her phone back up, holding her mug up as she typed expertly with one hand.

**Well would be an understatement. You? Have any plans for the day? **

The two friends went back to the living room and lounged on the couch, changing the subject to something less intense for a bit, though Piper knew the conversation wouldn't be dropped so easily. Polly was a persistent one, if nothing else.

"So, is this like a public thing?"

'_That was faster than I expected.'_

"We haven't exactly discussed it," Piper stared at the TV, hoping her short answer would end the discussion.

"Well, what did you do last night then? Ew, wait, never mind. Don't answer that," Piper glared at Polly out of the corner of her eye and nudged her with her shoulder gently.

"Pretty much the same thing we did in the stairwell earlier," she teased her friend, laughing as she made her uncomfortable.

"Stop. But, really, I need to know what to say to Larry about this when he asks for help again," Piper's jaw dropped at the realization that Polly wouldn't have called Larry yesterday. Of course, he had been the one to arrange the _meeting_ between the three of them. Otherwise, he would've just gone upstairs on his own. The thought made Piper want to heave.

"Wow, you were helping him? What the fuck, Pol?"

"I'm sorry! He's like a home sick puppy, and he's a sweet guy, and he really likes you, Piper," her expression was pleading with Piper, but it was futile. "Why can't you give guys like him a chance?"

"Because I don't want to date a fucking door mat," she shook her head, wiping the cab incident out of her head forcefully for hopefully the last time.

"Okay, well then what about Carol?" Polly asked, confusing Piper.

"What about my mother?"

"Are you going to tell her about you and super cunt?" Piper took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She didn't even think about what her mother would say. She definitely wouldn't approve, but that wasn't the worst possible thing that could happen. The worst would be how she would handle ever meeting her confident and witty girlfriend. It would be like throwing fuel on a raging fire.

"Fuck," she drew out each syllable as she whispered the word, needing the time between them to think of how in the hell she was going to figure this one out.

* * *

Alex flopped on her bed and pulled her glasses back down onto her nose so that she could read the tiny screen of her phone. She smiled at the text from Piper and began tapping her thumbs on the worn keys as the phone vibrated in her palm. Her eyes widened a bit at the message.

**FROM: Fahri**

**KB is back and wants to see you. Ivory Dragon at 1. **

It wasn't an oddity that her former employer wanted to see her, but it did seem strange that the message was coming from Fahri and not the big man himself. Alex contemplated the off behavior of the club owners; the thought was shrugged off in a manner of seconds, however. Kubra was always a strange man in her eyes. He treated her like family, though, and that meant everything to her.

She typed up a quick reply and hopped up off the bed to get dressed, still carrying her phone with her and rewriting her message to Piper.

**Going to catch up with my old boss. I'll call you later. Have fun with Holly. **

After getting dressed and brushing her teeth, the young editor was out of her apartment and speeding through the streets. There was a lack of traffic with it being Sunday and, more than likely, most of NYC was either eating lunch after their respective religious service, sleeping in, or going to a service. The wind pushed back the strands of hair that escaped the woman's helmet; the ends of her raven locks tickled her neck as they thrashed about. Regardless of her speed, her destination, and her surroundings, Alex Vause was on auto-pilot for this one. She was much too busy thinking of the feel of Piper's skin under her touch and her soft lips that tasted like cherry lip balm.

Alex had never really been a fan of cherry, but she had craved it ever since she first kissed her blonde girlfriend.

The editor parked her bike and made her way up to the front entrance of the club. Before she could grab the handle, the door swung open for her thanks to a bouncer she recognized from the other night. She nodded at the man as she walked in to the empty, spacious, gothic styled loft. It looked so much different when it was void of sweaty bodies, loud music, flashing lights, and the stench of alcohol and mixtures of perfumes. It was a beautiful mansion.

"Alex!" Fahri's voice called to her from the top of the stairs. The man motioned for her to come up to the loft, to which she obliged silently with a smile. "I trust you got your friends home alright the other night? The blonde one, Piper, was it? She took a pretty nasty fall."

Her eyebrows raised slightly. She never got the full story on what happened when she left Piper to sleep, or so she thought.

"Nicky and I got her home, but she none of us really knew what happened to her," she followed in step as she was led back to the office down a hallway that was normally hidden by the people crowding the left side bar and at least two bouncers.

"One of the bar tenders told me about it. Said the girl tried to follow you and Nicky down stairs, but some drunk guy knocked her over on the way to the stairs," Alex suddenly flared up, pissed off that she hadn't been there to knock the guy on his ass. Her fist clenched and released before they reached the office door.

'_Chill the fuck out.'_

"Kubra, you have a visitor," Fahri spoke cheerfully as they entered the dimly lit room. The office was furnished with beautifully made furniture and lavish, leather seats. The gleaming hardwood floor was only covered in one spot in the middle of the spacious room by a beautiful Persian rug. The colors in the rug matched the red tinted light that filled the room.

"Come in, come in," A tall, bald, middle aged man rose from behind his long, rosewood desk that looked as though it may have been hand carved. Alex returned the smile that the slightly taller man was giving her as she stepped into his office and up to the desk. Kubra took Alex's hands and held them out to her sides, looking at her after making his way around the desk. "Ah, still as stunning as the last time I saw you." Alex smirked.

"You've aged, Kubra," she spoke behind a sly smile. They glared at one another for a second before both laughed in unison.

"Still a smart ass, too, I see," he said plainly as he motioned toward the chair behind her, "sit, please." Alex took her seat, leaning into the soft leather and running her fingers across the arms of the chairs. Kubra's mouth was pressed into a slight smile as he watched her. "You have good taste."

"What can I say? I find that it's easier to enjoy luxury when coming from a place where it doesn't exist," Alex's tone was dry as she spoke; she was bitter about how difficult it was for her mother and herself when she was growing up. Her mother worked multiple jobs just to make ends meet. "I never got to thank you," Kubra looked at her curiously, "for the job."

"Ah," he opened his mouth wide and nodded, "don't worry about it, you'll make it up to me, I'm sure," he smirked and Alex ignored the comment. "How are you and your mother? Fairing alright?"

"Well," she nodded, "my mother is still working, and still the hard ass that never lets anyone help."

"Sounds familiar," Fahri interjected. Alex ignored his blow towards her, as well.

"Good, good. And what about you? Fahri tells me you have a new friend," her blue-green eyes cut toward the tan man who was standing to her left. He shrugged and gave her a half apologetic smile, making her want to dent his face.

"Hm, well Fahri does like to start his rumors, doesn't he?" she adjusted her glasses, not sure that she wanted Kubra that involved in her personal life. And really not sure if she trusted him to know who Piper was. He was a fairly sketchy man, after all.

"Good point," Kubra nodded and glanced at Fahri before walking around his desk and leaning back in his chair. He tapped the tips of his fingers on both hands together, watching Alex for a moment. She shifted in her chair a bit, wondering why he was being so quiet.

"Alex, I have a proposition for you."

* * *

Monday came early for the dark haired editor, who had just snoozed her alarm for the sixth time. She had been up all night, talking to Piper on the phone, and thinking about what Kubra had asked her to do for him, and also thankful that she hadn't said anything to make either of them believe that Piper was still in her life. It was best that way; it kept her safe.

She hadn't told Piper about the situation with Kubra and Fahri, nor had she given the two men a straight answer. She had danced around the topic, refusing to say yes or no to their offer. It was definitely a lot to consider, but for now she had time to think it over.

'_It would be a ton of cash, and traveling. Just like I always wanted.' _

Finally sitting upright after her alarm was buzzing next to her head again, Alex grabbed her glasses and stumbled around her apartment as she tried getting ready for work. She needed coffee; that was for damn sure.

Alex rubbed her eyes and yawned as she made it up the last couple of steps to her floor of the office building. The only thing keeping her motivated was knowing she would see her blonde girlfriend shortly. Not seeing her for over 24-hours was torture; and it was torture to realize how pathetic she was becoming.

'_Pull yourself together, Vause. Shit.'_

She reached her office and opened the door, flipping on the light, and allowing her jaw to drop slightly in a smile as she saw that her chair was currently occupied by the woman she was just thinking about.

"I brought you some coffee," Piper smiled as she stood and held out the cup. Alex kicked the door shut behind her and tossed her helmet in the now vacant chair as she took the cup. The raven haired woman took one long sip before placing the coffee on her desk and moving closer to Piper, slowly backing her up into the large window.

Her eyes took in the perfect body before her, from the slender, fit legs, to her slim waist and perfect chest. The blue-greens settled on Piper's lips, noting that the bottom one was trapped between the blonde's white teeth.

"God, I missed you," Alex's said lowly before placing her hands on Piper's waist, pressing her body into the interns as she looked down into her eyes. She felt Piper's finger leave a light burn across her cheek as it grazed its way down her neck.

"Ditto," Piper breathed against her lips. Alex instantly pounced, crashing her lips into Piper's, to which the blonde eagerly responded with her own ferocity. The editor slid her hands up slowly from the woman's waist, to her lower back, and up into the wavy blonde locks, tangling herself in them. Never wanting to return to the rest of the world.

This is what she needed. Not coffee. No, Piper was _much_ better than coffee.

To their dismay, the phone ringing obnoxiously brought the couple back to the reality of where they were. Alex groaned and forced herself to part with the girl. She slumped into her chair and rolled to her desk, picking up the phone and running her hands over her now slightly messed up hair.

"Vause," she answered simply, masking all of the feelings that had been burning inside of her moments before. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Piper straighten out her blouse and make her way to the door. Alex held up her hand to stop her from leaving only to watch Piper smirk and flip the lock on the door before turning and walking back toward her.

'_Holy hell. Where did this come from?' _

Alex smiled as she half listened to what Ben was saying over the phone. Piper's eyes had entrapped her, catching her attention in their seductive gaze and latching on tightly. The blonde twirled her finger, motioning for Alex to turn her chair. When she rotated, the blonde slid onto her lap and slipped her arms around the black haired woman's neck, letting her hands dangle over the back of the chair.

"Yeah, I'm here, Ben," she glared at Piper as a warning to the evil woman who was stealing all of her attention. The warning clearly wasn't enough, as Piper began trailing kisses along her jawbone until the blonde reached her ear.

"Tease," Alex mouthed as she rolled her eyes at Ben's blabbering. It was pointless, non-important garbage, as usual.

Piper smiled and began to twirl a piece of Alex's hair around her finger as she waited for the phone call to end. Alex was now somewhat able to comprehend the words over the phone call and sighed heavily as she heard the final portion of Ben's mainly one-sided conversation.

"Alright, I'll get her. We'll be there in a minute," she hung the phone up and looked at the curious gaze of her girlfriend who was still perched on her lap. Before giving her any answers, Alex quickly kissed her way up the blonde's neck, sneaking her tongue onto the soft skin in spots as she did so, and finally reached her lips. Pulling away before meeting the soft, cherry flavored lips, she smiled at the frustration she saw in Piper's blue eyes.

"Come on," she patted the intern's hip, "we have to go meet your new manager."

* * *

_A/N: Lots of fluff. I hope you all enjoy it (while it lasts, hehe). I apologize for the late chapter. The weekend was much more hectic than I expected and I ended up getting bed ridden for two days with a bug of some sorts. Good to go now, though! Thank you all for the support for this story and for all of the reviews. I wish I could thank you all separately, but I feel like I would need at least a page long A/N to express my gratitude. As always, I love reviews, feel free to criticize. _


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